Feel and Think

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Purple

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The words "feel" and "think" are not interchangeable. "I think" and "I feel" are totally different things.

If you preface a statement with "I feel" or worse, "I just feel" then you are telling your audience that what you are about to say has no merit, that you haven't considered it, you haven't weighed up the facts or used your experience or knowledge to form an opinion, you are simply shooting from the intellectual hip.

On the other hand "I think" tells your audience that you are offering an opinion based on the outcome of some intellectual rigor, that you have thought it through, that you may in fact be informed and educated on a topic. "I think" is the outcome of the application of logic and reason, in whatever amounts we may possess.

So why do so many people start with "Well I just feel"?
The next time someone says that stop them and tell them that you have no interest in wasting your time listening to anything else they have to say as it has no merit. Tell them that you would rather hear what they think.
 
Have you no feelings Purple?

Just because someone cannot put what they are feeling into words, doesn't mean what they are feeling is meritless or false.

It depends on context.
 
odyssey06 said:
Have you no feelings Purple?

Just because someone cannot put what they are feeling into words, doesn't mean what they are feeling is meritless or false.

It depends on context.
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Telling someone how you feel and telling someone that you have formed an opinion about a topic based purely on how you feel are very different things.
That's that the preface "Well I just feel" is telling one's audience.

"What do you think about Russia's justification for its invasion of Ukraine?" and "What do you feel about Russia's invasion of Ukraine" are, for similar reasons, very different questions.
 
People these days talk about emotional intelligence or emotional quotient which means that thinking or feeling are not as far apart as we used to believe.
 
Purple said:
Telling someone how you feel and telling someone that you have formed an opinion about a topic based purely on how you feel are very different things.
That's that the preface "Well I just feel" is telling one's audience.

"What do you think about Russia's justification for its invasion of Ukraine?" and "What do you feel about Russia's invasion of Ukraine" are, for similar reasons, very different questions.
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But in your opening post, it wasn't clear you meant discussion about a topic - as opposed to a personal conversation.

And in discussion of a topic, you can both express how you feel about it as a problem and what you think about it in terms of a solution (and problem).

How you 'feel' about it can be an important step in the process, and in explaining that you bring people along the journey with you.
 
mathepac said:
People these days talk about emotional intelligence or emotional quotient which means that thinking or feeling are not as far apart as we used to believe.
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They are very different things. One requires thinking, the other requires feeling.
It's fair to say the an IQ test is a narrow way of testing intelligence. How do we test EQ (Emotional Quotient)?
 
odyssey06 said:
But in your opening post, it wasn't clear you meant discussion about a topic - as opposed to a personal conversation.

And in discussion of a topic, you can both express how you feel about it as a problem and what you think about it in terms of a solution.
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Fair enough. It's when someone prefaces their opinion on a topic, say the Ukraine War or Trans Rights or Housing or whatever other hot topic is discussed, with the words "Well I just feel that...". In a discussion of that nature what you think is what matters, not what you feel. You don't counter an argument about, for example, the economic implications of Irish Unity with "Irish Unity will make me feel happy".
 
Purple said:
Fair enough. It's when someone prefaces their opinion on a topic, say the Ukraine War or Trans Rights or Housing or whatever other hot topic is discussed, with the words "Well I just feel that...". In a discussion of that nature what you think is what matters, not what you feel. You don't counter an argument about, for example, the economic implications of Irish Unity with "Irish Unity will make me feel happy".
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In the specific context of a discussion \ argument yes.

But let's say you are trying to guage opinion on something as an issue - then important to pay attention to how people 'feel' about something.
 
How we feel about something colours how we think about it and vice versa. As sentient beings, there is no clear distinction or boundary. They are both part and parcel of the human condition. There are self-measure / self-report tests online for EQ, as there are for IQ.
 
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odyssey06 said:
In the specific context of a discussion \ argument yes.

But let's say you are trying to guage opinion on something as an issue - then important to pay attention to how people 'feel' about something.
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But if they “just” feel.
I’m interested in what people think, not what they feel
 
Purple said:
They are very different things. One requires thinking, the other requires feeling.
It's fair to say the an IQ test is a narrow way of testing intelligence. How do we test EQ (Emotional Quotient)?
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Dunno who said it... not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.

You will know it when you see or perhaps more obvious in its absence.
 
Purple said:
But if they “just” feel.
I’m interested in what people think, not what they feel
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No interest in why people feel the way they do... or how what they feel affects what they think?

If you understand the feelings of your audience then you can tailor how you deliver your thoughts so they will be more open to them.
 
Whether or not they should, people use the terms interchangeably. In reality, a sentence beginning with “I think” has no more merit than “I feel”.
 
Salvadore said:
In reality, a sentence beginning with “I think” has no more merit than “I feel”.
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Perhaps depends on the topic at hand but to me feel refers more to emotion and think to logic. I have a strong preference for logic, and my inclination would be to put less value on what someone tells me they feel versus what they think. I'd suspect someone using the term feel is just making it up on the spot whereas someone who thinks has applied knowledge and logic.
 
Leo said:
Perhaps depends on the topic at hand but to me feel refers more to emotion and think to logic. I have a strong preference for logic, and my inclination would be to put less value on what someone tells me they feel versus what they think. I'd suspect someone using the term feel is just making it up on the spot whereas someone who thinks has applied knowledge and logic.
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Exactly.
I think Leo summed it up very well and that makes me feel good.
 
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Salvadore said:
Whether or not they should, people use the terms interchangeably.
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Only if they aren't thinking about what they are saying.

If you go to your GP she probably won't ask you how you think. They may well ask you how you feel. You may tell them that you thought you should see then because you felt unwell.

Salvadore said:
In reality, a sentence beginning with “I think” has no more merit than “I feel”.
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The person who feels that "I feel" is interchangeable with "I think" hasn't thought about it.
 
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