E M O T I O N

Is emotion a way of knowing or an obstacle of knowing?

http://changingminds.org/explanations/emotions/basic%20emotions.htm
This site provides several lists of basic emotions, each list by a different theorist or theorists. I will list three of note:

Izard:
Anger, contempt, disgust, distress, fear, guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise

Weiner and Graham had a simpler view on basic emotions:
Happiness, sadness

Similar to that was the one by Mowrer:
Pain, pleasure

Here's another example:
Love, Hatred

Interestingly, hate was only listed twice at that site I mentioned. Anyway, on to how these feelings can sway our knowledge, or enhance it.

First, let's try to make the question clearer. I emotion a way/obstacle of knowing... what exactly? It really depends on what you want to know. If you want to know which television you should buy when you are at a shop, emotion can be an obstacle. Greed might push you into purchasing something you can't afford. In this case, and in any case that is of a practical matter such as this, emotion can be an obstacle.
But what about love? How do you know if you are in love with someone or not? Certainly not by cold, pure logic. In this case I believe pure emotion to be the only way of knowing. However we must be careful of just what emotion we are following. On the website I listed, if one were to scroll down, they would see the basic emotions categorised, complete with what feelings each primary emotion entails. The first one listed is love. Here it includes Affection, Lust, and Longing. In order to know if we are truly in love with someone, it might be wise to look to these. Personally, I don't think lust should fall under love; rather it should be a category unto its own. True love is selfless, and does not care about physical attraction. A relationship based on these feelings of lust alone is bound to fail in the long term. This emotion of lust can indeed be an obstacle. The emotion of love, as long as it isn't misconceived as lust, will never be an obstacle.
But what exactly is the question referring to when it says knowing? Knowing what? Knowledge in general?
Anger, hatred, irritation, these can all be obstacles. What if a student is angry at a particular teacher, because they believe to have been treated unfairly? What if a student is irritated because they had to get up early in the morning to get to class? These are natural emotions to feel, especially in these instances, but do they really help us any? A student may take his feelings out on the teacher, by causing disruption, or not paying attention. What is the result? The student certainly won't learn a thing! Those actions are only adversely affecting him/herself, and possibly the whole class. Anger makes us hold grudges, and keeps us from being forgiving, ultimately ruining us, as we are never free of these dark thoughts. Anger is certainly an obstacle.
Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate, to the DARK SIDE, young padawan... OK, sorry, just couldn't resist quoting Star Wars... yes I am going to discuss Fear next. I believe that fear can be an obstacle to knowing, just as much as it can be a way of knowing. A fear of heights, while potentially irrational, can be a good thing. It's there for a reason: We humans are not birds; we cannot survive a fall of over 30 meters, and that's if you know how to land right. Even then you'll be in bad shape. How do we know this? Someone might go their whole life without seeing someone fall, or hearing about it happen. What happens if they go to the edge of a high cliff? I think that they will have an instinct of fear, and that they will back away, even if they don't know the outcome of the fall. That's my theory anyway. What about the fear of death? Or a fear of darkness. These fears can be grouped into the same fear: Fear of the Unknown. So is fear an obstacle in this instance? Well, it will never become unknown if they don't face their fear. In the case of death, it's best not to kill one's self to make it unknown, as death is unavoidable and will occur sooner or later. And a fear of darkness could be handy, after all, you could stumble and break your neck. But a fear of darkness itself is only an obstacle. What about entirely irrational fears? A fear of needles for instance. Oops, I forgot I am talking about irrational fears, not entirely rational ones. What about a fear of bees? I am terrified of bees. Why? I'm not allergic, as far as I know, so it's not like I'll die from a sting. And at any rate, I'm not afraid of death. Sure, a bee's sting hurts, but it's not that bad. And I know that if you leave the creatures alone, they probably won't sting you. Still, with all this in mind, I cannot control the emotion of fear I feel when a bee buzzes nearby. Is this an obstacle? It might prevent me from enjoying myself at a picnic. What does this really have to do with knowing? I don't know, I kinda got sidetracked. But as long the fear is not irrational, but rather a basic instinct, it will be a way of knowing.
So I have discussed Love, Anger, and Fear. What about Joy, Sadness, and Surprise? Sadness can be an obstacle. Example: You receive some rather bad news. Naturally, you feel sad. Their it actually a positive side to the news, but you fail to see it because you are depressed. This is why sadness can be an obstacle. What about Joy and Surprise? I can't really think of much, but with a word count of over 900 words, I think I have enough. I think they can be both, like fear, depending on the circumstances. The main thing is when you allow the emotion to distract you, or blind you to other facts, then it is an obstacle. In general, positive emotions (love, happiness) are ways of knowing, and negative ones (anger, hate, lust) are obstacles.