Re: memetics-digest V1 #1219

From: Dace (edace@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed 04 Dec 2002 - 06:51:37 GMT

  • Next message: Ray Recchia: "Re: Joe"

    > > > From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com>
    > > >
    > > > >From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net>
    > > > >
    > > > > > From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk On Behalf Of Wade Smith
    > > > > >
    > > > > > As in that piece about chimps I forwarded, it is totally obvious
    > > > > > that we are genetic and behavioral continuations of fierce and
    > > > > > unforgiving and oftimes horrifically cruel primates.
    > > > >
    > > > >That you think this is obvious just goes to show the power of memes,
    > > > >in this case the humans-as-innately-violent meme, which provides an
    > > > >excuse for our otherwise inexcusable behavior.
    > > > >
    > > > >
    > > > This innate violent rationalization notion also crosses the is-ought
    > > > barrier.
    > >
    > >Just back from Thanksgiving break. I'm not sure what you mean here.
    > >Could you elaborate a little?
    > >
    > >
    > Well the assumption that humans are innately violent is a description of a
    > presumed natural state (an "is"). The excuse for this behavior following
    > from its being a natural state is a prescription for how one might view
    > the way things should be (an "ought"). This is a breach of the is-ought
    > barrier in ethics (aka "Hume's law" if I'm not mistaken).

    Only the notion of categorical imperative could make any sense of this. In the real world "oughts" are contingent on how things are. For instance, because human nature involves mental freedom, societies ought to be arranged to allow for individual liberty.

    Hume's big contribution was that our perceptions of self and world are
    "fictions." Our sense of continuity of time, both physical and mental, is particularly fraudulent. We experience many things but never a continuous "self." What he missed, of course, was that the self is precisely that which experiences rather than being experienced. Centuries now and this sort of thinking still predominates in one form or another.

    Thanks for the tidbit.

    Ted

    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed 04 Dec 2002 - 06:51:52 GMT