Combining Texts

Ideas for 'A Discourse on Method', 'Thinking About Mechanisms' and 'The Second Coming'

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2 ideas

16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical
I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes]
     Full Idea: I concluded that I was a substance, of which the whole essence or nature consists in thinking, and which, in order to exist, needs no place and depends on no material thing.
     From: René Descartes (A Discourse on Method [1637], §4.33)
     A reaction: To me that sounds like "I concluded that I wasn't a human being", which highlights the bizarre wishful thinking that seems to have gripped the human race for the first few thousand years of its serious thinking.
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
The delusion of free will brings a sense of guilt [Berardi]
     Full Idea: A sense of guilt is linked to the delusion of free will.
     From: Franco 'Bifo' Berardi (The Second Coming [2019], How to)
     A reaction: I agree that free will is a delusion, but I'm not sure about this. Clearly if you think you are 'ultimately' responsible for all of your actions this will increase guilt, but belief in free will is compatible with various excuses for actions.