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Re: systems of monitoring and control. The even crazier thing is that upon only the lightest of introspection you can find that there isn’t even some “ego” syst
by zwkrt 7y ago
Re: systems of monitoring and control. The even crazier thing is that upon only the lightest of introspection you can find that there isn’t even some “ego” system controlling or reigning in some other “id” system. It’s just one thing! The “you” that decides to have one cookie and write a novel feels different than the “you” that would otherwise eat the whole box of cookies and watch YouTube all day. But you don’t get to decide when your supervising self will be in charge, or to what degree your animalistic self will be reigned in.
There is just one you that does things by whimsy all the time, and at the same time tries to make a coherent story about your immediate behavior in a way that is consistent with your past. A naive stoic might say that one should not become too upset about things outside your control. But in truth the best you can do is take the emotions and thoughts you feel in-stride because even those are outside your control—the stoic’s decision to follow stoicism in the first place is after all ineffable.
- barberousse 7y ago>Re: systems of monitoring and control. The even crazier thing is that upon only the lightest of introspection you can find that there isn’t even some “ego” system controlling or reigning in some other “id” system. It’s just one thing! I'm sorry, but because you're using the terms, I have to interject and inform the wider audience that this claim is not at all an accurate reading of Freud. Freud makes it extremely clear in his text The Ego and The Id that Ego/Id is one thing. The perceptible boundary is whether a mental process is available to being represented in language.
- zwkrt 7y agoI agree! But I don’t think this is how the average person thinks about it.
- danbruc 7y agoIt’s just one thing! While I would agree that in the end the brain is just one thing doing its thing, I would still say that it is also composed out of several interacting components with different functions and responsibilities. For example one part of your brain might have an impulsive response in a certain situation and another part might try to overrule that with a more rational thought. Some third component will of course just pick a winner of the struggle without anything you can do about it. Well, you are of course doing all those thing, but you know what I mean.