Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id IAA01323 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 5 Aug 2001 08:02:15 +0100 Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2001 00:00:04 -0700 From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: Macguffin To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-id: <3B6CEEF4.C940DA8D@pacbell.net> Organization: Saybrook Graduate School X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en]C-CCK-MCD {Yahoo;YIP052400} (Win95; U) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Accept-Language: en References: <3B6C9E3A.6813.166388E@localhost> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Dear Joe,
> > 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.
To be clear (and I hope not tedious), my remarks about the lack of a
referent for "I" in some sentences does not mean that there is no self,
to which it might refer in other sentences.
Philosophically, I think that the human self is always becoming. Sartre
talks about "nihilization" as the process through which the self, in its
aspect as For-Itself (Pour Soi) is constantly emerging. I think he was
onto something there. That is not the same thing as acorns becoming oak
trees.
Best,
Bill
"So remember who you say you are." -- Mick Jagger
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