Posted on 03/13/2002 4:47:26 AM PST by JediGirl
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The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
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Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.
-- Patrick Henry (the real one)
Good News For The Day
‘I am the truth. . ..’(John 14:6)
"When claimed to be the truth, he was saying that truth is both knowable and accessible. He was suggesting to his disciples that in discovering him, they could come to a relationship with truth. Truth, therefore is as real is the personality of Jesus Christ. Truth takes form in the spiritual qualities that are exampled to us in... Jesus---love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness, patience etc. If you have seen these in anyone at all, you have seen something of the truth. Truth, in the end, is personal. This is proven by the fact that where observed, it requires a personal response. The subjective answer to objective truth, is honesty-a spiritual value. If truth exists, something personal has to be done about it."
"On trial in Pilate's judgment hall, Jesus was asked, "Are you a king?" He replied, "To this end was I born. . . everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate said, "What is truth?" By this, he clutched at an escape. He was suggesting that truth is unknowable. But Jesus insisted against that view. The catch-cry of the contemporary world is, "What is truth?" Jesus answer is, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"To us as to Pilate, Jesus makes his appeal. Are you really willing to discount the values you see in me? Do you really believe that there is no qualitative difference between me and Barabbus? The dilemma for Pilate, was that he must accept truth as he saw it in Jesus, or say that truth can never be known."
"The former leads to life, the latter to murder, death."
Hi, Matchett-PI! Didn't we get into some argument or other a year or two ago? Not that it matters, but your pseudonym seems familiar...
Anyway, about your question:
Can you list the presuppositions/assumptions necessary for me to believe that people other than myself have minds? I mean ... I know *I* have a mind, but how can I prove that other people have minds? How do I know that you all aren't just robots?Taking your question literally, one assumption suffices:
ASSUMPTION 1: Every human being that has brainwaves, has a mind of some kind.
I suspect that this answer will not satisfy you. In that case, we could consider the following line of argument.
You have a mind. Where did it come from? If it was an accident of physics, others of your species may not have their own minds. If it comes from genetics, it is then likely that others of your species have similar minds. If it was given you by some more advanced entity, then it will depend on whether or not it was "just for you" or for a larger group.
Most people hold to one of two assumptions. The first is that a mind arises from the workings of the brain, which in turn arise from genetics. Thus if I have a mind, so should others with structurally similar brains. (The similarity of the mind would follow the similarity of the brain.)
The second assumption is that the mind is a gift from God, but a gift to the entire species, not just to an individual.
Either of these assumptions would be sufficient to "prove" that my mind is not unique. You are correct, however, in supposing that someone else's mind is empirically unverifiable.
I made it to the end!
WHAT?!!
Please tell me you're joking. It took so long to get here, and I experienced much peril, what with wading through all that blue slime and traversing the vast fields of insanity.
Not to mention the evil doppelgangers lurking about pretending to anyone but themselves.
I tried that. The Billie Burke must have misunderstood -- I wound up in Alaska.
I just saw another crevo thread start up. Could it produce half as many posts?
BTW - God is STILL on the throne and prayer changes things.
Russ
Yeah, but your baggage went to Rio de Janeiro.
We're trying for 2500 posts. Keep at it.
But can we make it to 2500 posts?
What is the record number of posts on a single thread?
Is your Mama a llama?
En espanol, ?como se llama llama?
Russ
Who put the llam in "llama llama ding-dong?"
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