Human Consciousness: Role of the unconscious (Humans)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 13, 2016, 15:10 (3204 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: That animals might have souls is a tenet of Judaism, nothing more.
> dhw: You have never to my knowledge discounted the possibility. See below for further comment on animal thought.
> DAVID: I never meant to 'discount' it. I accept it as a possibility.
> 
> Thank you. Therefore you think it possible that Adler's difference “in kind” (only humans have an “immaterial” mind) is wrong.-No. If you knew Jewish theology you would know that animal souls are not the same as human souls, and the Hebrew words are different, nefesh and neshamah. And Adler's point is not what you state. Human aesthetics and immaterial conceptualizations are part of his argument. Can an ape write Beethoven's Fifth?-> 
> You have constantly informed us that virtually nothing in evolution could have been created by undirected evolutionary processes, including the weaverbird's nest! So degree versus kind is irrelevant anyway. BBella has hit the nail on the head:
> 
> BBella: According to evolution do not all beings share a common ancestor? And if so, wouldn't that mean all beings are truly only different in degree from each other? It would seem to me, only for categorizations purpose would something be different in kind.
> 
> dhw: The perfect summary. Bacteria, ants, dogs, eagles, elephants, humans....all categorically different in kind, and all with varying degrees of intelligence, manoeuvrability, adaptability, perception, social organization etc., explicable in terms of the evolutionary drive (origin unknown) for survival and/or improvement.-You both miss the point. Stick to the mental aspect. Adler only discusses the differences in consciousness and capacity of that consciousness, nothing about phenotypes, which are beside the point. The 'kind' difference is only in that aspect of life.