Posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2005, at 19:45:39
In reply to Lost - for Alex and anyone else interested, posted by cricket on July 28, 2005, at 15:57:53
Hi. Sorry I have been a while in responding. I have had a really busy week... Glad you liked the Dennett link :-) That was a talk that he gave some people. I'm not sure who he was speaking too, but I think it was a general audience rather than an audience of philosophers specifically. That is a mixed blessing. It means that he does talk a lot in metaphors and anecdotes, but it also means that what he does say is realitively clear and comprehensible.
If you want to know more of the details... Then you might like to look at his more technical work.
If you like the general story he has written a lovely one which involved a thought experiment where his brain gets removed from his body and placed in a vat of nutrients... it controls his body via radio signal... He walks his body to visit his brain... Sits there puzzling over:
'Here I am... Daniel Dennett... Looking at my brain'.
But then he figures it should really be:
'Here I am... Daniel Dennett... Being looked at by my body'.
Its brilliant, but very much a story that leaves more unanswered than it purports to answer.I can give you links to whatever you would like if you are interested to read some more.
My views... Are different again. Dennett believes that selves are a purely fictional construct. Strictly speaking there isn't any such thing as a self. I agree there isn't any such thing but I conclude there really is a self. It just turns out to be a little different than one might have supposed. I don't suppose a hell of a lot rests on that linguistic decision...
So Dennett has been a major influence in my thinking - but I don't swallow him hook line and sinker.
> However, I do think his head of state (mind) metaphor is a good one. He goes on to say “But in some cases the competing fictive-selves are so equally balanced, or different constituencies within her are so unwilling to accept the result of the election, that constitutional chaos reigns – and there are snap elections (or coups d’etat) all the time.”
> Well he can say that again.:-)
> She is still around but not very strong any more. My therapist seems to think that this is a good thing, that she was one of the parts developed to deal with my mother, and he is glad that this part is less dominant. I am glad too in some ways because I don’t like her (or me as her?Ok. But it sounds like there are some skills that she has that could be useful at times...
>Back to the question of whether I am another alter or just a connector). But we don’t know how to function at meetings, social events without her.
Yes. It would be nice if the skills, abilities, knowledge she has could be more accessible to your other parts...
> Maybe that’s why I am so lonely lately. She managed all my relationships with real people (except my son, my therapist, and you fellow Babblers). I have no idea how to interact with the world without her. She had all the formulas down.If you could access more of her (and integrate that to a certain extent with all the other stuff that you know) then you might end up with the best of both worlds.
(((Cricket)))
Has to get better... Has to...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:534847
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050725/msgs/535810.html