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On 4 Aug 2001, at 23:01, Bill Spight wrote:
> Dear Ted,
>
> > > The sense of self arises from the formation of the Self-Other
> > > distinction.
> >
> > And how does this distinction get drawn? Does it draw itself, or is
> > it drawn by an actual self demarcating itself from nonself, i.e.
> > "other."
>
> The scenario in human development goes something like this. The first
> relevant distinction seems to be between family and strangers, who
> provoke anxiety. The mother or caretaker provides a safe place, a home
> base. The child begins to venture out into the world, frequently
> returning to home base or looking at the mother (checking in). Then
> rather suddenly the mother becomes the other, provoking anxiety, and
> there is no home base. Since everything is other, there is an implicit
> sense of self, but it is not developed. Shortly, however, the anxiety
> lessens and a personal space, a new home base emerges. A sense of self
> begins to develop.
>
> None of this requires an "actual" self, OC. ;-)
>
The self emerges,, that is, it becomes. The genetic capacity (big-
complex brain) is there, but it requires environmental interaction to
actualize it. To say that it never exists because it's not there at
first is like saying that trees never exist because they cannot be
found in acorns.
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
>
> "A mere appellation and a name."
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
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
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