[Ron]: > Does not what we know influence our values? Yes, of course. But what drives us to search for truth is the value of understanding. I maintain that this is unique to man's intellect. What other creature seeks an intellectual understanding of its world? The fox has the cunning to prowl for its prey, and birds fly south in winter to insure a supply of theirs, but these are mainly instinctual behavior patterns. Man has an innate need "to know" that far exceeds his sensory and intellectual capacity. Poets have waxed lyrically about man's yearning as the stuff of which dreams are made. If there is a special purpose for human life, isn't it suggested by man's extraordinary desire to explore the "unknown" and his power to discriminate morally, aesthetically, and intellectually?
[Ham, previously]: > I'm distressed and disappointed to see the > Collective Intellect repeatedly idolized in this forum. [Ron]: > It was an observation and something I bumped into > reading Ken Wilbur, I thought it was interesting and > thought kicking this around would be some fun, > didn't mean to upset you Ham. I learned a lot on your > site and made me question just how we generally > percieve things and just how far in our perception > Value sensibility modulates. Does our value sensibility > manifest in intellect ? For if all we know and experience > is an illusion, then perhaps our rationality of it is also. I'm gratified that someone could "learn" from my thesis, since I have no accreditation as a teacher nor any special expertise in philosophy. Probably the best way to address your "illusion" question is to say that while man's experience of Reality is illusionary, conscious awareness is not. I see rationality as the tool of intellection necessary for the survival of a creature who lacks the support of animal instinct. We all try to "figure out" what the world is about and how best to get where we're going with a minimum of pain and anguish. Knowledge gained from our experience is our existential source for reason. If we are fortunate, we learn early in the game what kind of behavior favors our survival, and we call it rationality. It has great practical value for a successful life, but we don't live for reason alone. We aspire to "higher things" to which value is attached. And the more experience we have, the greater our ability to discriminate among the values we sense. More later. --Ham > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
