XPost: alt.philosophy, alt.atheism, talk.atheism   
   From: ralph@eddlewood.demon.co.uk   
      
   In message , Craig Franck   
    writes   
   >   
   >It is true that the sense of self in a schizophrenic, for example, is   
   >disrupted by physical traits of the brain. But then a software program   
   >may stop functioning when there is a problem with the computer hard-   
   >ware. I wouldn't say Internet Explorer is made up of silicon.   
      
   I apologise for entering this thread so late and without quoting the   
   previous material, some of which I found interesting.   
      
   My intervention is to attempt to resolve this argument by agreeing that   
   self is not simply the actions of nerve cells, which I think takes us   
   almost nowhere. BUT, if you define it as the sum of our memories, and   
   our physical body (with all its aptitudes and problems), you are more or   
   less there.   
      
   I make the latter qualification since one's physical abilities do, I   
   believe, have an influence on one's activities, and therefore one's   
   self. There are those, of course, who overcome the most incredible   
   disadvantages to achieve great things (and sometimes small things), but   
   the act of overcoming them affects, I would argue, self.   
      
   Although people might draw a distinction between physical and mental   
   abilities, I do not, in this context. Clearly an IQ of 140, or the   
   musical ability of Mozart, have a great effect on self, and would be   
   described by many as mental rather than physical, in this sense I am   
   lumping them together. And, of course, they depend on one's genetic   
   inheritance, as has already been noted.   
      
   Now, most of the discussion has been about the nervous system. Since   
   most of us have pretty similar nervous systems, my references to   
   memories is the key difference. They embody all our experiences we have   
   had, all the knowledge we have acquired, all the emotions we have been   
   through, as modified by our genetic makeup, and form our character, or   
   self, as mediated by our bodily characteristics.   
      
   They are recorded in our brain, as engrams, also previously mentioned,   
   illustrate so convincingly. They can be described as "activity in our   
   nerve cells", and the only point of my writing this is that I find this   
   description incomplete, and therefore inadequate, as have others.   
      
   So, I offer a definition that self = physicality + memories, both as   
   defined above, as my contribution.   
      
   --   
   ralph   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)