Prof. Damasio is generally credited as the person that has brought about the new paradigm of emotions versus rationality. His book Descartes Error is the one that started it all.

Descartes is famous for saying "I Think, therefor I Am" - which is often translated to mean "I am rational therefor I am". This paradigm lead to emotion being seen as interfering with rationality. It is the basis of a lot of philosophies - including Freud.

Damasio postulated that: "I am rational because I am emotional".

This has become the theme at many marketing conferences (as well as articles in advertising magazines), where it is often mis-represented as: "People take emotional decision, not rational decisions". Then this is often extended to imply that market research cannot measure anything.

Here are two videos of him explaining his new paradigm.

Katz Lectures in Humanities:

The Katz Distinguished Lectures in the Humanities Series recognizes distinguished scholars in the humanities and emphasizes the role of the humanities in liberal education.

Neurology
University of Iowa

Emotion, Feeling, and Social Behavior:
The Brain Perspective

“Neither anguish nor the elation that love or art can bring about are devalued by understanding some of the myriad biological processes that make them what they are… Our sense of wonder should increase before the intricate mechanisms that make such magic possible.”

Antonio Damasio’s trilogy, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (1994), The Feeling of What Happens (1999) and Looking for Spinoza (2003), inspired the theme for the 2003 UW Summer Arts Festival, Spheres. Delving into activity in the anterior portion of the cerebral hemi”spheres,” Damasio’s research “… brings us closer to understanding the delicate interaction between affect, consciousness, and memory - the processes that both keep us alive and make life worth living” (Harcourt Books).

You now have 2 options. I uploaded the first 2 minutes of his talk in which he adresses the issue: why study emotions. You can download this using Real Player. Or, you can go to the website and play the whole talk. It explains every thing you wanted to know about emotions.

http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/katz/20022003/antonio_damasio.html


I have pasted the video of his Barcelona talk - which says much the same as the above video - on the page with neuro-videos.

(When I learn how these things work I will move it here)

Damasio is saddened by the misinterpreation some people have given his work that emotions determine behaviour. (Done at many advertising conferences and some pop. marketing books). He comments on this in his third book The Feeling of What Happens.