3 ms·
At the full blown materialist end there's another big problem though: Are you just a cloud of ever changing atoms mistaken for a person? Since almost none of th
by gottebp 12y ago
At the full blown materialist end there's another big problem though: Are you just a cloud of ever changing atoms mistaken for a person? Since almost none of the atoms from your childhood remain in you now, are you actually the same individual? If yes, by what measure and means? If no, then how can a cloud of atoms have things like "rights", personhood, etc?
In addition to both dualism and materialism there is a third way called Hylomorphism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylomorphism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylomorphism
- trhway 12y ago>Since almost none of the atoms from your childhood remain in you now, are you actually the same individual? i hoped that not, i hope that i did mature at least a bit :) But you question i suppose was about a little bit different aspect of "the same" and to that aspect i'll ask you - this river, the set of ever changing atoms of water, is it the same river that it was a second ago, an hour, an year...? >If no, then how can a cloud of atoms have things like "rights", personhood, etc? In physics where is no "rights". The "rights" is just a "mind" construct reflecting current balance of violent interactions between different "clouds of ever changing atoms".
- MichaelGG 12y agoI don't think these questions are really very interesting. "When is a day no longer sunny, but cloudy?" There is probably a name for this class of things, where there's some fuzzy-ish boundary. But it seems like s mistake to get caught up in it as if it makes a difference. Sorta like arguing over what life is. Is a plant alive? But plants aren't like animals, so what then? It actually seems like arguing about definitions.