Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-athena.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!akgua!mcnc!decvax!mit-athena!yba From: yba@mit-athena.ARPA (Mark H Levine) Newsgroups: net.philosophy,net.sci,net.misc Subject: Re: Mind and Brain Message-ID: <190@mit-athena.ARPA> Date: Mon, 9-Jul-84 00:13:29 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-athe.190 Posted: Mon Jul 9 00:13:29 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 7-Jul-84 00:36:11 EDT References: <1396@proper.UUCP>, <856@shark.UUCP>, <1413@proper.UUCP>, <508@brl-vgr.ARPA> Organization: MIT, Project Athena, Cambridge, Ma. Lines: 37 Your assertion that any attempt to explain the concept of mind to someone must include the assertion that he has one confuses me. If I explain to your blind man that there is such a thing as color, I do not assume that he "has one". If I make up a concept called "mind" (perhaps I am really a dead Greek) I see no reason to assume that either of us has one. If you wish to define any system of behavior and/or understanding as "mind" you are just trying to define away the argument. Likewise, if I understand by using my blood, and he does also, we can understand the concept of mind without having the usual version of one (there is just no getting away from the restrictions of language and cognate, is there?) Objectivism does not seem useful, and I found that Ayn Rand and Nat Branden just dig a very deep rathole to fall down. Even ERGO, which is funded for life, seems to be quietly dying due to lack of interest (an obscure publication of the MIT community or something). The line at the top is from, among other places, a TV series called "Tales of the Unexpected". It has a simple meaning: A wise man knows that language is severely limited: often we think we understand words to mean something other than what the speaker intends. The wise man knows that as soon as you utter the "truth" you have distorted it; truth can not be spoken, it must just be itself. Thus, any concept expressed in words and in speaking is a lie. Anyone who acts on these lies as truth is being absurd; the only consistent acts are those which are absurd, recognizing this aspect (Master Joshu was fond of taking off one sandal and wearing it upon his head, but that is another koan). The only thing you can expect in a world where change is the only constant is something different--the unexpected. But already I have typed too much. My apologies. -- yba%mit-heracles@mit-mc.ARPA UUCP: decvax!mit-athena!yba