To: jennyp
Yes. There is no reason to think that there needs to be anything more than a functioning brain in order to produce a mind. Well if it is only matter, and we know that matter has no personality and no higher purpose, just how can you state that your thought processes (ideas, theories) somehow have objective value, when the matter that produces them doesn't? What is the evidence that they have objective value? Does your brain tell you that they do (oops -back to chemical material processes again!)? How are your colliding brain atoms any more meaningful than mine?
To: SmartCitizen
You obviously
still haven't read post 111. The atoms in my brain are
organized in such a way that the higher-level structure they comprise produces thoughts, which eventually turn out to be accurate or not based on their compatibility with objective reality. It's this higher-level structure, a.k.a. my "mind", which determines what the collective group of organized atoms will do. The atoms themselves, being totally non-thinking, have no choice but to come along for the ride. In considering the actions that the person takes, it only makes sense to think about the decisions & judgement of the mind as a whole.
It's a category error, exactly the same as trying to measure the surface tension, boiling point, or flame-quenching ability of water by measuring the properties of oxygen & hydrogen atoms taken alone.
234 posted on
10/03/2005 1:10:22 PM PDT by
jennyp
(WHAT I'M READING NOW: my sterling prose)
To: SmartCitizen; jennyp
Sorry, but there's no such thing as objective value. Value is always value to somebody and as such it is subjective per definition. Of course the same pertains to meaning and purpose.
242 posted on
10/03/2005 2:00:45 PM PDT by
BMCDA
(Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent. -- L. Wittgenstein)
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