A panel of three speakers offered psychological, philosophical, and practical perspectives on the role of emotions in public policy on Tuesday. The panelists were McGill political philosopher Christina Tarnopolsky, David Ptzarro, a political psychologist form Cornell University, and Bob Rae, the Liberal foreign affairs critic. They spoke as part of the Walter Gordon Massey Symposium organized by Massey College and U of T’s School of Public Policy and Governance.
Panellists agreed that though emotions may disrupt reason and cloud judgments in shaping public political discourse, they cannot be removed entirely. Leaders who attempt to be too dispassionate, they said, run the risk of seeming less than human.
“Emotions are such a deep part of our psychology and physiology that when our emotional systems sustain damage, our ability to engage in rational thought suffers as well,” said Ptzarro, opening the discussion. “And without the motivation that our emotions provide, we would care little about doing anything at all.”
Tarnopolsky also stressed the importance of emotions in politics. She spoke about a collective sense of anxiety and fear after 9/11 and took issue with the argument that it was wrong for to act out of fear. “[The argument is that] it was irrational because we were acting out of fear, we should have been reacting out of reason,” she said. “The problem with this is that terrorism is a legitimate thing to be afraid of. There is nothing irrational about fearing terrorism. What was lacking was not reason, it was debates about this fear.”
Rae concluded by saying that emotion inevitably affects public policy. “Emotion is unavoidable. “Playing on fear is part of the bread and butter of politics,” he said. “We simply have to become more aware and more self-aware on how it is being done and the impact it has on all of us.”
Asked by The Varsity if he had tips for student politicians on how to respond to personal attacks, Rae said, “You cannot ignore emotions and if the debate becomes purely personal you will lose out on the opportunity to make better choices. The thing that we need to realize is that emotions are not permanent.”
He said candidates should respond with reason. “A dear friend of mine once said that it is very difficult to be smart and angry at the same time. I believe these words are true but it is also difficult to be smart and a whole lot of different things at the same time.”
