Re: A calculus of personal identity (was:*THE* PUZZLE)

From: Russell Standish <r.standish.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:57:58 +1000

On Mon, Jun 19, 2006 at 12:17:47PM +0200, Bruno Marchal wrote:
>
> Actually, the marquis de Sade (a famous mechanist philosopher, alas
> also, following la Mettrie, a famous materialist!) actually reason like
> that. If you expect to be demented or just to be dead, nothing between
> now and then should be a matter of concern. So Sade proposed that life
> belongs to the most egoist kind of people living just for the present
> instant.
> But comp is incompatible with materialism: we just cannot die in any
> absolute way, nor to be sure we will be demented in the normal
> (gaussian) futures.
>
> We can also interpret Sade as a proof by contradiction of the falsity
> of materialism .... (?)

Yes - I make this sort of argument for personal reasons in favour of
altruism in my book, in light of quantum immortality. I don't think I
have everything clear cut - its more of a handwaving exercise, but I'm
encouraged that others think in this way too...

Cheers

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Received on Mon Jun 19 2006 - 19:50:58 PDT