ID as a Cultural Phenomenon (Humans)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Thursday, October 01, 2009, 19:36 (5531 days ago) @ dhw

dhw writes: "Belief in some kind of soul has permeated the religions of most cultures: the Ancient Egyptians distinguished between the Ba (more or less the personality) and the Ka (a sort of life force), most Amerindian and African tribes have or had their own concepts of soul and an afterlife, the Ancient Greeks, the Hindus, and the three main monotheistic religions all subscribed or subscribe to the view that man is NOT confined to his material self. You consider that the diversity of religions more or less invalidates them all, whereas I take the reverse view: it's the common ground that interests me."-This sort of argument proves nothing. People in these cultures have also believed in demonic possession, magic, witchcraft, fairies and suchlike. Or are you arguing that there is some reality in these beliefs too?-
dwh further: "What we have here is an unsolved mystery. We simply do not know what constitutes the "I" that directs the brain cells, is perhaps directed by them (spontaneous ideas, dreams), takes decisions etc."-I've already expressed my view that what "we" are is defined by our past history, but you don't seem to be impressed by this approach. What constitutes "me" is my whole history, nature and nurture. I don't see any great unsolved mystery here. The decisions I make are psrtly based on conscious reasoning, which proceeds by logical manipulation of language, but I recognise that a lot of them depend on subconscious events of which my conscious part is not always entirely aware except perhaps as vague "feelings". I see no reason to go off into theories of disembodide minds or souls.

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GPJ