Emotions, metaphors and reality : a phenomenological approach to William Lyall's Intellect, the emotions and the moral nature

Abstract

In their work The Faces of Reason: An Essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada 1850-1950, Leslie Armour and Elizabeth Trott consider that the Canadian way of doing philosophy uses reason in an accommodationist manner. I propose in this thesis that William Lyall's Intellect, the Emotions and the Moral Nature represents a splendid example of the accommodationist use of reason. The Maritimes philosopher advances the idea that emotions have a cognitive value, a claim which I support by trying to put Lyall's ideas in a modern framework offered by French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. Latent in Lyall's work can also be found a theory of metaphor which I try to revive with the help of French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Thus, following Lyall, emotions and reason are always in a balance and they work together in order to give us a more consistent and fuller grasp of reality.