Philosophy Now Forum

“Must the centre of your consciousness be located in the same place as your physical brain? It seems intuitive. However, Aristotle thought the heart was the seat of intelligence, and that didn’t stop him from functioning, or indeed teaching philosophy. Could you shift your centre of consciousness outside your head, like Sheila, or perhaps if you used remote cameras to alter the location from which you perceive the world?”
- Rick Lewis

Plato's three elements of the psyche are

The appetites, which includes all our myriad desires for various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily ease. There are so many of these appetites that Plato does not bother to enumerate them, but he does note that they can often be in conflict even with each other. This element of the soul is represented by the ugly black horse on the left.

The spirited, or hot-blooded, part, i.e., the part that gets angry when it perceives (for example) an injustice being done. This is the part of us that loves to face and overcome great challenges, the part that can steel itself to adversity, and that loves victory, winning, challenge, and honor. (Note that Plato's use of the term "spirited" here is not the same as "spiritual." He means "spirited" in the same sense that we speak of a high-spirited horse, for example, one with lots of energy and power.) This element of the soul is represented by the noble white horse on the right.

The mind (nous), our conscious awareness, is represented by the charioteer who is guiding (or who at least should be guiding) the horses and chariot. This is the part of us that thinks, analyzes, looks ahead, rationally weighs options, and tries to gauge what is best and truest overall.

Walker wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:02 am “Must the centre of your consciousness be located in the same place as your physical brain? It seems intuitive. However, Aristotle thought the heart was the seat of intelligence, and that didn’t stop him from functioning, or indeed teaching philosophy. Could you shift your centre of consciousness outside your head, like Sheila, or perhaps if you used remote cameras to alter the location from which you perceive the world?”
- Rick Lewis


“That which rises as ‘I’ in this body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the body the thought ‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it rises in the heart. That is the place of the mind’s origin. Even if one thinks constantly ‘I’ ‘I’, one will be led to that place.”
- Sri Ramana Maharshi

henry quirk wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:21 am new moment: same old 'I'

Nick_A wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:49 pm

“Must the centre of your consciousness be located in the same place as your physical brain? It seems intuitive. However, Aristotle thought the heart was the seat of intelligence, and that didn’t stop him from functioning, or indeed teaching philosophy. Could you shift your centre of consciousness outside your head, like Sheila, or perhaps if you used remote cameras to alter the location from which you perceive the world?”
- Rick Lewis

What if Plato's theory of the tripartite soul is accurate? Then the dominating part of our organism becomes active due to circumstances. One moment thoughts are dominant, and quickly yields to either appetites or emotions. The seat of consciousness varies

Plato's three elements of the psyche are

The appetites, which includes all our myriad desires for various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily ease. There are so many of these appetites that Plato does not bother to enumerate them, but he does note that they can often be in conflict even with each other. This element of the soul is represented by the ugly black horse on the left.

The spirited, or hot-blooded, part, i.e., the part that gets angry when it perceives (for example) an injustice being done. This is the part of us that loves to face and overcome great challenges, the part that can steel itself to adversity, and that loves victory, winning, challenge, and honor. (Note that Plato's use of the term "spirited" here is not the same as "spiritual." He means "spirited" in the same sense that we speak of a high-spirited horse, for example, one with lots of energy and power.) This element of the soul is represented by the noble white horse on the right.

The mind (nous), our conscious awareness, is represented by the charioteer who is guiding (or who at least should be guiding) the horses and chariot. This is the part of us that thinks, analyzes, looks ahead, rationally weighs options, and tries to gauge what is best and truest overall.

If true, there is no I, no inner unity. The source of decision or the feeling of I can arise from anywhere within the tripartite soul.

henry quirk wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 8:36 pm You're confusing growin' up, growin' old (accreting experience, becoming more complex) with wholesale transformation or metamorphosis.

I 'am' as I was at age five: I just 'know', have experienced, a helluva lot more (resulting in the complex, nuanced 'me' of today).

The Oak 'is' the acorn.

henry quirk wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:39 am ...multiple times, but the 'action' of those cells (that 'action' being 'me') is the same.

I, as the action of a particular and peculiar arrangemrnt of matter, persist, no matter how many times the matter is replenished or renewed.

I'm Theseus's ship, replaced bit by bit over time, but remaining *Theseus's ship.

*'cept I'm not a ship and Theseus can go fuck himself: I belong to me.

henry quirk wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:39 am ...multiple times, but the 'action' of those cells (that 'action' being 'me') is the same.

I, as the action of a particular and peculiar arrangemrnt of matter, persist, no matter how many times the matter is replenished or renewed.

I'm Theseus's ship, replaced bit by bit over time, but remaining *Theseus's ship.









*'cept I'm not a ship and Theseus can go fuck himself: I belong to me.