Unmotivating Fear

Walton Writes: "Fear emasculated by subtracting its distinctive motivational force is not fear at all."

This was in rebuttal to the example of fearing a dog even if there is rational reason to believe the dog to be harmless. The person who is afraid of the dog will be motivated to avoid the dog and therefore the situation is different than Charles being afraid of a slime on the movie screen. Charles is not motivated to action, therefore, it cannot be true fear he experiences.

Once again, we are presented with a narrow definition that does nothing but prove correct the one offering the definition.

Temporary paralysis is as common a reaction to fear as it is to flee. Two situations: 1) A man is confronted by a mugger with a knife; he turns and flees. 2) A man in confronted by a mugger with a knife, he is frozen and allows himself to be robbed.

It is presumptuous to claim that the man in situation 1 was afraid but the man in situation 2 was not. Fear does not necessarily move us to action. This is not meant to complete invalidate Walton, just this particular point.

Question: Walton deal almost exclusively with fear. What of admiration? What of pity? What of shame? Remorse? Do all feelings get categorized with fear?