From: <MemeLab@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 17:51:29 EDT
Subject: Re: selfishness, Buddhism, and memetics
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 4/12/99 4:39:14 PM Central Daylight Time, MemeLab@aol.com
writes:
Ricard Brodie:
>>>> But "self is an illusion" is a didactic aid to help us remember that
our self-image tends to be one of the most delusional parts of our world
view. <<<<
Me (myself!):
>>Though I know Dennet has made some poigniant and intelligent points
questioning various views of the self, I haven't known him to take this kind
of stand. <<
I think that Dennet might treat this more as the didactic aid that you
describe. But for Blackmore, this sounds like a much more insistenct
conclusion. When you start talking about it using words like "false idea"
and "LIE" (!), I think we have moved beyond the merely didactic. An
"illusion" *might* be just a problem of perception or definition (though I
don't tend to immediately think so - that could be within the range of
possible readings). Blackmore doesn't restrict herself to that kind of
safely fuzzy wording, however.
-Jake
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