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From: johnston@fapse.unige.ch (JOHNSTONE Tom)
Subject: Re: Reductionist Materialism (was Re: I lie
Message-ID: <1994Nov15.173050.26148@news.unige.ch>
Sender: usenet@news.unige.ch
Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland
References: <1994Nov14.203936.12341@seas.smu.edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 17:30:50 GMT
Lines: 38

In article 12341@seas.smu.edu, kjh@seas.smu.edu (Kenneth J. Hendrickson) writes:
>
>You beg the question.  You first assume that material stuff is all that
>exists, and then assume (correctly based upon the assumption) that ideas
>must exist in material media.  I will concede to you that for beings
>such as humans, who have both physical and non-physical components, a
>physical medium is necessary for communication of ideas.  However, while
>you use your physical brain for perception, you don't use it for storing
>ideas.  Ideas have ABOUTness.  It is not possible for any arrangement of
>chemicals or electrical impulses to have ABOUTness.  Therefore, ideas
>are not stored in the physical brain.  The mind is not the brain.  Your
>assumption is wrong.
>

How does the "non-physical" component interact with the physical (and
vice-versa)? Why is it that purely physical phenomena can have such
huge effects on the "non-physical" mind (when I get very drunk, my
thinking, personality, inner thoughts, concept of self etc. etc. all
change radically)? And where did this "non-physical" mind come from?
Do single cell lifeforms have it - or are we humans the privilaged
few? If we were able to make an exact replica of a single cell lifeform
(atom-by-atom for instance), would it suddenly aquire a "non-physical"
presence, or would it not work at all?

The list of questions goes on and on ...




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| Tom Johnstone                                                       |
| Faculte de Psychologie		Tel.  +41-22-705 9777         |
| et des Sciences de l'Education	Fax   +41-22-300 1482         |
| Universite de Geneve                                                |
| 9, route de Drize                                                   |
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