Ourcellves? (Identity)

by dhw, Wednesday, April 09, 2014, 20:31 (3669 days ago) @ romansh

I have failed miserably in my attempt to explain what I see as a logical fallacy in the materialist argument that we consist only of our cells (and their interactions), and that since our cells are not of our making, we cannot have free will. My point is that in that case, the cells and their interactions ARE ourselves, and so their decisions are OUR decisions ... cells and self being indivisible.-Romansh thinks I am offering a dualist position, am limiting us to our cells, and am suggesting that he is suggesting that "we are (just) our cells", but I am only trying to knock a hole in one particular hypothesis. I would have liked to develop this argument further, because of its relevance to the cause and effect argument against free will, but Romansh's latest response contains a remark of such importance that I'd prefer to abandon my own line of thought for the moment and concentrate on his:-ROMANSH: I am not suggesting that we are (just) our cells. We are much more than that. Poetically speaking we are a reflection of the universe and the universe is a reflection of us.-Forget the poetry for a moment, and please explain in clear prose what you think the "much more" consists of. After all, a reflection is just an image, but like yourself and others I am trying to find out what more "we" might be that cannot be subsumed under the activity of our cells. It may be that this will be a more fruitful line of thought than my pursuit of what I see as a logical fallacy in the above materialist argument.