Tuesday 22 August 2017

Self-Preservation

How many kinds of entities struggle to preserve themselves? -

organisms;
governments;
regimes;
ways of life;
ideas;
thought processes;
beliefs;
self-images;
timelines?

"It's as if this warped continuum were defending its existence - reaching through Lorenzo, who begot it, beyond his grave to us."
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), Part Six, 1245beta A.D., p. 410.

Minimally, memory is the thought, "I saw/sensed/perceived that before." If a past experience is merely reproduced in imagination but is not also recognized as a past experience of this present subject, "I," then it is indistinguishable from a mere imagining. Thus, present memory, which is necessary for continuity of consciousness, requires the present application of the concept of a temporally enduring subject, "I." However, there is not necessarily any enduring entity corresponding to this concept and, indeed, each sentient organism begins, changes and ends, like a candle flame that seems to be continuous but that in fact burns different wax at each moment. Nevertheless, the biological motivation to preserve the organism is transferred to the conceptual self.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And the Christian (Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestants), of course, believes that the * I * which is you and me survives the death of the body.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
But the "I" is a concept that is applied when any conscious organism remembers some of its experiences. Each organism exists for a finite time and has finite set of experiences to remember.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

But I don't believe that our bodily life is all we are going to have or be. I believe the * I * which is our personality and soul will survive the body's death and remember these experiences. I find Plato's arguments for the immortality of the soul more convincing than philosophic materialism.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
In Plato's PHAEDO, Socrates presents 4 arguments for immortality and replies to 2 objections. I wrote 2 exam answers on the PHAEDO. I remember that 3 of the arguments relied on the Platonic Theory of Forms or Ideas, which I did not and do not accept. Can you summarize any of the arguments for us?
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Survival as a Platonic soul and resurrection as a Pauline "spiritual body" are 2 contradictory ideas of immortality. Greek philosophers laughed at Paul's idea.
Paul.