Bruce Kellett wrote:
Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On Friday, June 26, 2015, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 6/25/2015 11:24 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
ISTM there's an equivocation here between a continuation in
consciousness and continuation in body. If we say "the
person" is just a continuum of conscious thoughts, then they
are both continuations of the original. If we take into
account the physical instantiation then we can say which is
the original (assuming he's not destroyed and reconstructed in
the duplication process) even though they are both
continuations, by different means, of the original.
Surely continuation in consciousness is what we mean when
discussing personal identity. The atoms making up my body last
year have mostly dispersed in the biosphere, but I don't consider
that a great loss.
That's a logic chopping answer. Sure the atoms have dispersed, but
the physical structural relations have persisted and these are not
the same as conscious thoughts.
But the main reason we care about the physical structural relations
persisting is that they ensure continuity of consciousness. If the
physical structure was mostly preserved but the subject was
unconscious or radically different in consciousness then we would say
he had not survived, whereas if the physical structure were different,
for example if the brain were replaced with a computer, but
consciousness similar then we (or at least I) would say that the
subject had survived.
The philosophical and metaphysical issues are deeper than this. I refer
you to the ancient Indian Tale "The Transposed Heads", especially as
retold in the novella by Thomas Mann.
I should have included the following link, which tells the original tale
and Mann's (and other) versions of it:
http://www.untoldstories.org.uk/storytelling/indian/in_story01.html
"The fact that Mann did not refer to a faithful translation of the
original tale but has referred to and is influenced by a revaluation of
it becomes a relevant factor in our reading of The Transposed Heads,
because an interpretation and a revaluation is necessarily a view point,
depicting a particular philosophy of life exposing an aspect of truth
and reality. A symbolic reinterpretation is a value judgment and not an
unbiased statement of fact. Mann, therefore, not only endeavours to
retell an ancient tale but analyses the logical and metaphysical
implications posed by the story. He imposes on the tale an extension to
prove his point. If the original tale ends with a solution to the
riddle, he carries the solution to its logical extremes to show its
implications. If the head is superior to all organs, and the man with
the husband’s head becomes the husband, what happens to the body? Is
life so mechanically conceived that one can transpose heads without it
leading to serious repercussions? Can life go on as before after that?
Does the head not impose its temperament upon the body? What about the
woman, who is aware of the husband body living elsewhere? Can she
tacitly accept such a solution to the problem without reacting to it?
All these questions are implicitly posed and an attempt is made to seek
answers to them in Mann’s version. Girish Karnad claims to be influenced
by Mann’s rendering of the story rather than the original Katha Sarit
Sagara story. Mann, in his turn had referred to Zimmer’s version. Thus
Karnad’s recasting of the story is many times removed from the original.
"Mann retells the tale from a metaphysical, yet ironic viewpoint. He
strongly reacts to the axiomatic assumption that there is a dichotomy
between spirit and life, mind and body. An ironic vision of life,
skepticism and cynicism are typical features of the 20th century mind.
Combined with this is the modern man’s search for identity in the
context of an ancient past, in myths and legends. Mann, with his ironic
revaluation of an ancient tale tries to search for relevance in time
honoured values. He, like many 20th century writers felt the necessity
of reshuffling the present scale of values and meanings by constantly
juxtaposing them with older ones."
From a discussion of the tale and Mann's retelling, by Pratibha
Umashankar.
http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2012&issid=41&id=3068
Bruce
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