Posted by smokeymadison on July 24, 2005, at 11:28:48
In reply to A Realist Aspect to the Interpretation of Selves, posted by alexandra_k on July 21, 2005, at 18:48:10
hey alexandra k,
i too am putting off work. but since it is Sunday i figure it isn't so bad. anyway, about self-hood.
i have to go with the notion that there is no self. we are constantly changing, integrating new memories via our senses and upon them devising methods of interacting with the world.
it is this collection of memories distributed throughout the brain (if i remember my biopsychology course right) and the methods we use to deal with the world that we misinterpret as our self. as conscious creatures, we put a lot of energy into trying to feel as if we are an individual with a self, a core. layers and layers of experiences seem like a solid entity, but if you peel them away, there is nothing at the middle.
in the case of MPD, i think that it is an illustration of the fact that there is no self. each alter has its own collection of memories (sometimes overlaping) and its own way of dealing with the world. when you look at a person with MPD, it appears as if the self has been split b/c what we consider to be the self exists within the person as multiples. but actually each alter is the same as the one collection of memories and learned behaviors that exists in each of us.
now, not all behavior can be the result of stimuli from the environment. take for example speech. a child will start to speak if given even the minute amount of social interaction. speech is a resilent property of human behavior. it is overwhelmingly the result of some genetic influence.
our genetic inheritance does not provide us with a self. it is the structure that will provide us with senses and the material necessary to assume memories so that we can function efficiently as conscious creatures. consciousness itself is like a loop. it is an awareness of what we feel to be a core of ourselves constantly interacting with the world. this core is nothing more than the feeling that there is a boundary btw us and the world (actually there is simply a sharp increase in order) and the memories and methods we have integrated into a framework that has no permanence, is constantly changing.
poster:smokeymadison
thread:531091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20050621/msgs/532698.html