X-Message-Number: 3813
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 1995 17:35:26 GMT
From: Michael Clive Price <>
Subject: nonbrain identity (whole-body vs brain-only)

Mike Darwin claims:
> Mike Price writes about the body-brain dichotomy with authority 
> and certainty stating that it is ALL in the brain.  

No, I was reacting to Mike Darwin's statements of certainty to the 
contrary, statements like "you can bet your sweet life that ....".
  :-)

> However, where I think Mike may  be going a bit too far (by 
> implication) is to say that people select WB only for the 
> aesthetic/emotional reasons.

I did not say that.  I said that I respected such aesthetic/emotional
reasons.  What I don't respect is the spreading of unscientific myths
about loss of identity for brain-only suspensions.  Some people, who
can't afford WB, will be detered by groundless fears about loss of
identity from taking up the more affordable neuro option.

BTW I fail to see the relevance of heart-warming stories about Grandma
Moses, Horowitz and Churchill (yes, I thought his paintings in old age
the best) to the issue of non-CNS identity, just as I failed to see the
relevance of the de-cerebellated(?) cat.

> But not everyone agrees.  Labelling them [WBs] fools isn't going to 
> answer the question;

Who's labelling them fools?  I never thought Jerry Leaf a fool -- I just
didn't agree with his reasons for going WB.

> and as I've aged I've gotten less arrogant about the results of
> experiments not yet done.  

As I get older I remain amazed by the contortions people go through to
rationalise the irrational or arational, most often by people who
ardently profess to be "rationalists".

> I think it is this feeling, of the person as a unified whole (not
> just their brain) which drives many whole body people.

I agree.

> I do not think this point of view totally without merit or loony.

Neither do I.  Obviously whether anyone wishes to "take their body with
them" or not is matter of personal taste, however I have never heard a
convincing reason *to with identity* to back this up and wish that those
people who insist that there are such reasons would back them up with
evidence.

Michael Price                        

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