Jon -
I believe mothers who deny basic care to their fetuses and babies are a 
minority, and that when the neglected/abandoned children get older they are 
often emotionally disturbed and have an impaired ability to think objectively.  
 

That does not seem to be the right starting point for a discussion of instinct 
& emotion in the logical process.  If we want to discuss human instinct, we 
should focus on a representative human instead of an abnormal one. (The logic 
of emotionally damaged people is more psychology than philosophy.)  

Regards, 
Tom Wyrick




> On Jul 17, 2015, at 2:08 PM, Jon Awbrey <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Tom, List,
> 
> Having done statistical consulting for nurse researchers I can tell you that 
> "low birth-weight babies" and "mother-infant communication" are two major 
> areas of research and practice.  In neither case is perinatal life quite so 
> halcyon as we'd like to imagine.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jon
> 
>> On 7/17/2015 11:53 AM, Ozzie wrote:
>> Ben, list -
>> Thanks for your interesting comments.  I will spend more time thinking about 
>> them later today.
>> 
>> Let me briefly address one sentence from your comments:  "I'd say that 
>> instincts can also be triggered _inside_ the body, e.g., by prolonged 
>> emptiness of the stomach."
>> 
>> According to the common definition (interpretant) instincts are triggered by 
>> things in the external world.   Before birth, food is ALWAYS available to 
>> the baby.  After birth, and assuming an attentive mother (caregiver), food 
>> continues to be available without any effort or reciprocation on the baby's 
>> behalf.  This goes on daily for many years, so not feeling hunger pains 
>> becomes the norm, the expectation.
>> 
>> Against that backdrop, when food is withheld (by the external environment), 
>> one's sensation of hunger (-) is a disturbance to the status quo (0), which 
>> summons the instinct to do something (+) to make that "pain" go away.  When 
>> something from the environment is eaten (+), the sensation (-) disappears 
>> (0).
>> 
>> It is in this sense hunger pains and their elimination are related to 
>> (triggered by) the individual's contact with the external world.  If the 
>> individual eats a full meal AND THEN feels hungry, I agree that particular 
>> sensation has an *internal trigger (likely emotions or a physical 
>> disability).
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Tom Wyrick
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jul 17, 2015, at 8:04 AM, Benjamin Udell <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Regarding some of your comments, I'd say that instincts can also be 
>>> triggered _inside_ the body, e.g., by prolonged emptiness of the stomach.
> 
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