Saving the Self
Raymond Tallis defends personal identity from those who say the self is an illusion.
And yet in regard to certain biological/genetic aspects of human identity, we are no less shaped and molded by the laws of matter than any oak tree. Our bodies and our brains are packed with “things”. Organs, blood, bacteria, chemical and neurological interactions which shape and mold our options in many profound ways. And there is only so far that even modern medicine can go in reacting to the parts that break down.
What separates us from from oak trees of course are minds. The most mysterious matter of all when it is actually able to become self-conscious of all the things it needs to know in order to conduct exchange like this one. At least in regard to our species on this planet.
And then where I take this line of reasoning: “I” in the is/ought world. At least waiters can be thought of as “things” in that there are behaviors that they perform that all of us recognize as being things that waiters do. Here “bad faith” might revolve more around a waiter approaching your table in a restaurant and dealing out poker hands. Here he or she could be said to have betrayed the manner in which we all agree waiters should behave or are expected lo behave.
Here things get all that more convoluted once we move into the is/ought world. In regard to value judgments, political prejudices and aesthetic tastes, what on earth does it mean to speak of “ontologically” at all? Still, we choose the behaviors that we do here without giving much thought to all of the things we are not. All of the experiences we did not have. All of the relationships we did not form. All of the information and knowledge we missed completely. Instead, we are “stuck” with reacting to our behaviors and the behaviors of others based only on that considerably more narrow thread of experiences, relationships and ideas.
But, come on, how many of us ever really stop to think that part through?