From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Oct 28 2002 - 22:43:31 MST
Lee Corbin wrote to Michael F Dickey:
(This is quoted from another thread.)
> Most importantly, however, if your location suddenly
> changes and so you start having "different experiences"
> it does *not* alter your identity.
You are playing fast and loose with the word "identity," in this thread and
others. You treat the concept of identity superficially, as if one's
identity were little more than a name and social security number.
But your identity extends far beyond your basic stats, Lee. It is far more
than the name on your driver's license.
Your identity is the answer to the question "Who are you?" As I wrote
elsewhere (to Dan F), if pressed to answer this question in detail, people
will respond with much more than name, rank and serial number. They will
give an account of their entire selves. Included in that description will be
a current account of their ever-changing personalities, personalities which
do in fact change with experience.
It appears you have concocted an entire system of thought based on a false
distinction between identity and self, not realizing or not acknowledging
that these two terms do not exist independently.
IDENTITY is a pointer to SELF, as in SELF-IDENTITY.
Your false reasoning has lead you to promulgate the ridiculous conclusion
that in the scenarios you describe, SELF = OTHER. That conclusion is clearly
false by any sane and workable definitions of the words "self" and "other."
As I've stated, your argument fails because the conclusion invalidates the
premise, i.e., reductio ad absurdum.
-gts
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