How do you reconcile that line of thought with the fact that human consciousness requires more than one individual to exist? Without multiple people being together and communicating with each other there would be no conscious thought and the entire premise of this debate falls apart.
Individualism is counterintuitive to thousands of years of evolution of the human psyche
How can you say consciousness is not defined and then say it is not communication?
How can one act according to their own self interest if one is not aware of one’s own self interest and if one does not have the ability to rationalize that thought? And if one is aware of one’s own self interest and can rationalize that thought, than that is what I meant by “consciousness” - perhaps I used incorrect terminology
I agree, but I think that means everyone united against common problems we all face from nature, not everyone bickering and fighting one another over man made ones that could be avoided with a degree of agreement about certain kinds of knowledge.
Skippy only acts that way out of ignorance. He doesn’t realize that what’s good for mankind is what’s good for him. It’s those egoist Skippys out there who fuck everything up.
He’s talking about geometry, he’s saying the false philosophers do not understand because they do not think and do not want to know the truth. And I agree with him in that regard.
I did not say communication IS consciousnesses, you said that it is not, I’m not sure why you said that. You put words into my mouth and then refuted the argument that I never actually made. I said communication is necessary for consciousnesses (as I defined later)
So in your opinion, acting in one’s own interest is a reflex and not a choice? A reflex by definition is an involuntary action, which implies a lack of choice - a voluntary action
yes, that is what I meant - without communication there is no consciousness. You somehow arrive at the conclusion that that means that they are the same. A whole is the sum of it’s parts, not all of it’s parts itself. Is a car a wheel because it requires a wheel to work? If I say thought requires communication (which is my opinion, not a stated fact), that does not imply that that there are no other factors involved or required for thought, just that communication is one necessary piece
Dictionary: Reflex - Being an involuntary action or response
That being said, I will of course read up aristotlean virtue
But that’s what distinguishes us from beasts. We learn how to control our animal nature. Maybe you can never make it go away, but without the burden of the ego, we might see clearly enough to understand what’s beneficial to all of us, the whole species of humans. Then me might direct our instincts in a more educated and efficient way against things like diseases or famine, rather than use war and competition as an outlet for it in a sloppy an unproductive way.
