[MD] The Fringe Factor

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Micah <micah at roarkplumbing.com>:

> Platt,
> 
> We know your cat has freedom. Freedom is a human mental concept; not only
> does your cat not know it has freedom - it simply doesn't know. Knowing is
> another human mental concept.
> 
> Here's an analogy -
> 
> If I have a fire and in the fire is a rock and the fire has been burning for
> an hour - is the rock hot?
> 
> No - the rock is not hot, it is not anything but a rock. You are hot when
> you touch the rock and you may say the rock is hot, but the rock doesn't
> know what hot is. It is a rock. The rock's molecules have moved apart and
> are moving, and a thermostat may read a high temperature, but the rock is
> not hot. Hot is a mental concept we have and have placed on the rock. That
> is an example of anthropomorphizing. Saying animals think is the same. We
> think, and anthropomorphize the universe.
> 
> Think is an extremely complex concept. If animals think, that would include,
> jealousy, whimsy, wistfulness, melancholy, outrage, empathy, deliriousness,
> longing, to name but a few. How can animals that "think" remain static?
> 
> You may say, my cat thinks but in a limited range. You have decided your cat
> "thinks" and even his range of thought, but your not anthropomorphizing?
> 
> Can you begin to see that man is the measure of all things?
> 
> Micah

My cat doesn't think by manipulating symbols and forming concepts like humans do.
But, it's clear it is aware and that it experiences. It will avoid a 
hot rock and will yowl in pain if burned just as you and I will. To believe
my cat exists because I observe him (idealism) is the height of human
egocentricity. If I die tonight, my cat will still demand to be fed in the
morning.The world was here long before you and I arrived on the scene
and will continue long after we are gone.  The evidence is conclusive that
existence exists on its own, not by our permission, unless you believe that God
planted skeletons and other fossils just to fool everybody, or that the dead are
still observing us from on high. Man is the measure of a lot, but not everything.
But, I could be wrong.

Best,
Platt

 


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