There are many emotions to be experienced in life. Since I come from a physics background, I wonder if the more complex emotions can be represented by a combination of "atomic" emotions.
(as an aside, what is the root word that means "indivisible" is it atmos - where we get atomic or is it the word quanta/quantum ? maybe someone can answer that for me)
I have also run a game where the two main religions had the idea that emotions had opposites. The opposite of humility was pride and the opposite of love was fear.
I know that many would argue that the opposite of love is hate but I saw hate as a combination of fear and pain.
I definately agree that there are far more than five emotions, but I was wondering if there are primary emotions, like primary colours.
I would argue that hunger is a subset of desire (ie the desire for food).
Nostalgia would not be a primary emotion because it requires memory (memory is not an emotion but can you have nostalgia without memory ? )
Jealousy, lust and shame would not be primary because they need a focus. Jealousy over a thing, lust over a person and shame is pain/embarassment from a social situation and um, er, looks like this theory still needs some work.
Now I'm starting to really feel out of my depth (hehe, is it confusion or disorientation that is causing my discomfort ?).
