5712
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Particles may have sensation, but eggs turning into chicks suggests otherwise [Lucretius]
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Full Idea:
There is the possibility that particles have senses like those of an animate being as a whole, …but from the fact that we perceive eggs turning into live fledglings, we may infer that sense can be generated from the insentient.
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From:
Lucretius (On the Nature of the Universe [c.60 BCE], II.914)
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A reaction:
He gives other arguments for his view. The egg example is not a strong argument, but is precisely our puzzle of how consciousness can emerge from the process of evolution, and natural selection makes dualism look unlikely.
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5719
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The mind moves limbs, wakes the body up, changes facial expressions, which involve touch [Lucretius]
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Full Idea:
Mind and spirit are both composed of matter, as we see them propelling limbs, rousing the body from sleep, changing the expression of the face, and guiding the whole man - activities which clearly involves touch, which involves matter.
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From:
Lucretius (On the Nature of the Universe [c.60 BCE], III.164)
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A reaction:
This is the inverse of Descartes' interaction problem, and strikes me as a straightforward common sense truth. However, if you believe in spiritual gods, this gives you a model for the interaction (however mysterious) of matter and spirit.
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5724
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Lions, foxes and deer have distinct characters because their minds share in their bodies [Lucretius]
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Full Idea:
Why are lions ferocious, foxes crafty, and deer timid? It can only be because the mind always shares in the specific growth of the body according to its seed and breed. If it were immortal and reincarnated, living things would have jumbled characters.
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From:
Lucretius (On the Nature of the Universe [c.60 BCE], III.743)
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A reaction:
A nice argument which I have not encountered in modern times. Of course, even Descartes admits that the mind is intermingled with the body, but it seems that the essential character of a mind is dictated by the body.
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