Do you think it’s because of Descartes’ ideas of distinguishing between mind and matter that we’ve come to believe we are the exceptions and separate from nature and matter and everything else non human, rather than seeing ourselves as a part of it all, a part of nature as well? Do you think it’s because of this mind and matter separation that the brain in a jar becomes heroic for us since we’ve come to believe a thinking brain must have a soul?
I don’t think it takes that much for humans to delude themselves into a particular position regarding our specialness - we don’t need to know about Descates to muster a rationalization strong enough-although I’m sure Descartes’ ideas can be used in that regard. We are backwards rationalizing from an emotional conclusion we arrived at a priori as a reflexive reaction to our fear of personal insignificance- which represents death in our mind
@@mr1001nights Thanks! Sincerely. I can see that. Descartes is only 400 years, and when reading that neanderthals buried their dead back 120k years ago, also leaving behind items with the deceased, I like to imagine how far back our creativity really goes. Anthropologist talk about this burst of creative activity 50k years ago, and Chomsky says it coincides with when language first appeared, and that it happened so quick that he thinks it might be some small mutation in one person, which could have happened in a few individuals before, but at one point it took to the group, and so here we are to talk about it.
Any self-esteem enhancing activity can decrease death anxiety, but any activity that makes the individual feel insignificant can increase death anxiety. So especially in the longer-term, videos on this topic seem to have an overall neutral effect
Is it the difference in self awareness? We can conceptualize time. We can step outside of ourselves. We take things into consideration. Less time can make things more meaningful. Why don’t we share the same affinity for non human animals as we do ourselves? Is it because we don’t see ourselves as being part of nature? Is it because we think mind and matter are separate things? Are we the self appointed judges? Is that even something we could ever possibly know because of the limits of our own self awareness?
Do you think that a self aware thinking brain left alive in a jar can be heroic? 1.bp.blogspot.com/-fO-Hu2jtdEk/UDeq14s7ysI/AAAAAAAAH1U/N-q--I6QUTg/s1600/Wilder+Brain+Collection+5_OTIS.jpg
I don’t really know if I can measure that properly. Maybe im not playing with a full deck here. I do, as ridiculous as it sounds. But only if it was Spinoza’s brain, and not Descartes.
