We are boats subject to the tides and currents of our emotions. Strong and powerful emotions have been the ignition fueling countless social movements as well as horrid tragedies. Emotions are as unpredictable as they are complex. Implementing Eleonore Stump’s analysis of love as well as the arguments for eliminating anger by Owen Flanagan and the Stoic philosophers, the new sentient robots should not be given the ability to experience human emotions because of their characteristics of destructiveness and unpredictability.

Eleonore Stump argues that love is the desire for the objective good and union with the beloved. Stump comes to this view by first dissecting the relational, volitional and responsiveness accounts of love. Stump uses the …show more content…
In Owen Flanagan's article “Destructive Emotions”, Flanagan summarizes why emotions and actions related to anger are negative, stating “It is simply that anger, indignation, disapproval and threats of ostracism are designed to make the object of these emotions feel bad, back off, change their behaviour, cease and desist, leave, and/or fear reprisal.” (Flanagan, 2001, page 271). In this statement, Flanagan is channeling the Stoic view regarding unfavorable emotions such as anger. Stoics argue that anger is messy and non-virtuous because it only seeks to cause damage and as such is a deficient quality (Moore, 2018). Flanagan also acknowledges that argument that many western philosophers hold that anger is a developmental adaptation and therefore cannot be eliminated. In response, Flanagan gives the example of the eucalyptus leaf, which has evolved to preserve moisture, and states that while advantages in arid climates, the adaptation is rendered harmful and counterproductive in other climates such as a tropical forest (Flanagan, 2001). This same principle can be applied to anger. Just because humans have evolved to maintain anger, does not mean it is beneficial in our current environment and could even prove harmful, as Flanagan mentioned in the previous …show more content…
Stump and the Aquinas account for love do not have characteristics that would necessarily classify love as a destructive emotion. In fact, Stump’s argument for love creates a compelling reason to maintain emotions in life as love is depicted as being a desire for the objective good and union for the beloved, however Stump does not focus on anger and its danger (Stump, 2006). Anger is the deciding factor for me in giving or revoking emotion from robotic life. As Flanagan and Stoics point out, anger is a flawed emotion (Flanagan, 2001). Anger in life creates possibilities of harm to others and the self which leads to more anger. Anger is an emotion founded in self interest and the belief of entitlement according to the Stoic philosophers (Moore, 2018). Installing this emotion into a new series of life would have detrimental results. The new life would be prone to a never ending cycle of irrational and detrimental acts stirred by destructive