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I believe that that idea is about that in our consciousness there's an idea about who we are, an idea of self, and we believe that we are that idea, and that th
by sdfin 9y ago
I believe that that idea is about that in our consciousness there's an idea about who we are, an idea of self, and we believe that we are that idea, and that that idea has agency or free will. But the idea of self is like any other idea, it arises in the impersonal functioning of the mind. There's no homunculus, no little man in the control center of our brains, no ghost in the shell. As the stomach digests, the brain thinks, there's no thinker, thoughts 'happen' without a self that controls it. Thoughts happen not at random but as reactions to previous memories and experiences.
"...men believe that themselves to be free, simply because they are conscious of their actions, and unconscious of the causes whereby these actions are determined." Spinoza, Ethics
In spite of this I wrote, I'm not sure if I understand very well the 'self is an illusion' argument, I may be misunderstanding something.
- creep 9y agoI think you are simply presenting another theory of mind that doesn't really answer the user's question. We don't know that there isn't a real self, but we do know that the way we perceive ourselves is illusive.
- sdfin 9y agoTo extend the idea, some philosophers that lived at different moments explained that consciousness is independent of the body and feelings and thoughts and that to experience what we ultimately are we have to experience "consciousness without objects", for example Franklin Merrell-Wolff in his book "Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object" says this, but also indian and buddhist philosophy says something among those lines. I cannot say if what these guys said is true or if they were psychotics.