Why is this my body?

Discussion in 'General Philosophy' started by Cyperium, Jun 25, 2012.

  1. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    And how do you know that?
     
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  3. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Our ordinary language suggests just that - namely, that there is such an essence of a human or other beings.

    Some will argue that language forms don't prove anything - but then why do we have them?
    Back to the problem of illusion and why it started.


    Indeed, strictly speaking, it seems impossible to determine whether there is such a self or not.
    But our ordinary moral sense is based precisely on taking for granted that such selves exist.


    That depends on what you mean by "inner states."


    This suggests a general Christian ontology/epistemology, which is quite undifferentiated in comparison to what some schools in Hinduism offer.

    In general Christian terms, and in general in Western terms, the self tends to be conceived of as an undifferentiatable conglomerate of body, mind, intelligence, false ego and soul.
    In Hindu terms, these individual elements are considered discernable, and only the soul is the self proper, while the others are not the self.

    This way, some Hindu schools never end up in the kind of problems we Westerners do.

    However, the way I see it is that unless one is born and raised into Hinduism, it is impossible to meaningfully adopt it as an adult; this is because I think it is not possible to choose and ontology nor an epistemology. Being born and raised into an ontology and epistemology does away with the problem of choosing them.


    So the Advaitists, yes. But not all Hindus.


    I request a Pali Canon reference for this.
     
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  5. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Imagine a burning heap of wood. When the fuel for the fire runs out, where does the flame go?
     
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  7. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Good analogy, it's very similar.
     
  8. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    A society must regulate behavior to protect the weak and promote peace.

    As I said, these concepts are philosophical in nature, and cannot be used to legal purposes. Society, like the self, is a useful fiction. We live in a sea of illusion and image. For us, it is our reality. Image is more real to us than the physical.
     
  9. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    You mean you don't recognize where this analogy is from?


    Why do you think this is so?
     
  10. Rav Valued Senior Member

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    If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago.
     
  11. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    No, I never found the dharma in a book.




    This is how it appears to be.
     
  12. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    To you perhaps, sometimes.
     
  13. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    Ever known anyone who suffered a severe brain injury?
     
  14. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Have you ever had one?

    A person with a damaged brain may appear different to other people, but not necessarily to themselves.

    Having a damaged brain may feel like wearing a space suit while trying to do fine needlework - but you are still you.
     
  15. Balerion Banned Banned

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    Where do you get this stuff? You just make it up as you go?
     
  16. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    IOW - no.
     
  17. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    which then brings us back to the point that he physical organism is in a constant state of flux yet the sense of "I" remains unchanged ...... even though you constantly avail it to a sense of illusion for no apparent reason ...
     
  18. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Do you really expect to be less than yourself, or to effectively be someone else when you get Alzheimer's?
     
  19. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Memory has to be persistent to function.
     
  20. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Society is by definition the regulation of behavior.
     
  21. C C Consular Corps - "the backbone of diplomacy" Valued Senior Member

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    (???) What vague impulse was it, then, to ask How come I am in this body instead of any other body?, if "this body" was just a redundancy or repeat of "I" (utterly synonymous with "I")? That is, what your question is revealed now as amounting to is "How come this body is in this body instead of another body?". Your body just is your body. Why refer to it as "being inside itself", and how could it optionally be inside another human body? (Cannibalism? Return to the womb?)

    What do I base it on??? Your original post, for pete's sake -- the question didn't make sense to be asking unless you or somebody elsewhere were implying "I" was separable in some sense from the body it developed in. Like Firefox 13.01 being independent from a multitude of computers it could run on.

    Good grief, the truly silly act here would be my continuing to address these ever increasing bizarro turns. It's not your fault -- I'm an idiot for either not recognizing this as a writhing heap of ambiguity from the start or naively trying to discover or salvage a meaningful discussion in/from it.

    "Terminate orbit. Get me back to Earth, Mission Control. Pronto!"
     
  22. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    whose memory?

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  23. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    The memory within your brain. The thing that generates the thought of a continuous self.
     

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