While I don't like treating Tildes as a place where stuff from The Orange Site™ gets re-posted, the conversations on topics like this tend to be great here. This essay from the late Daniel Dennett...
While I don't like treating Tildes as a place where stuff from The Orange Site™ gets re-posted, the conversations on topics like this tend to be great here. This essay from the late Daniel Dennett is an incredible read; if you don't have time, bookmark it and come back later.
This story paints a beautiful picture of how the concept of an essential self is illusory, something that's hard to argue for directly but can be gestured at as is done here. Lot's of philosophical traditions have held to this same perspective. Meditative and contemplative practice (i.e., examining one's own awareness) have famously been used for observing first-hand what some call "non-dualism" or anattā in some Eastern traditions. If you decide to pursue this, you can discover this same insight directly rather than a conclusion of a story or syllogism, and the experience is quite profound. Either way, thankful to Dennett for the mental hand-hold to get us there. If this all seems a bit too mystical, note that even atheist polemicists like Sam Harris find significant value in the insights meditation can provide [link].
While I don't like treating Tildes as a place where stuff from The Orange Site™ gets re-posted, the conversations on topics like this tend to be great here. This essay from the late Daniel Dennett is an incredible read; if you don't have time, bookmark it and come back later.
This story paints a beautiful picture of how the concept of an essential self is illusory, something that's hard to argue for directly but can be gestured at as is done here. Lot's of philosophical traditions have held to this same perspective. Meditative and contemplative practice (i.e., examining one's own awareness) have famously been used for observing first-hand what some call "non-dualism" or anattā in some Eastern traditions. If you decide to pursue this, you can discover this same insight directly rather than a conclusion of a story or syllogism, and the experience is quite profound. Either way, thankful to Dennett for the mental hand-hold to get us there. If this all seems a bit too mystical, note that even atheist polemicists like Sam Harris find significant value in the insights meditation can provide [link].