Ourcellves? (Identity)

by David Turell , Sunday, April 06, 2014, 23:17 (3673 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw:The unique combination of cells that is "me" is still me, regardless of where those cells came from. The consciousness engendered by my cells is "my" consciousness, and the conscious decisions taken by my cells are "my" decisions, taken as a result of "my" cells weighing up the pros and cons. And although I think we would all agree that my upbringing, experiences etc. do somehow influence the behaviour of my cells, the way my cells respond to my upbringing and my experiences will still constitute "my" responses, because "I" am my cells. Therefore the argument that "we" are governed by our cells and consequently have no will of our own becomes a contradiction in terms, because if "we" ARE our cells, we are governed by ourselves. And that is as good a definition of autonomy as you can get.-I thoroughly agree. Romansh is reluctant to accept the feed-back that obviously exists by our personal use of our own brains. We change our brain's structure all through life with our education, experiencs, and memories. This cannot be acceptable to someone who is simply a reductionist materialist.