[MD] moq thought experiment 1.

[Ham Priday]

Dear Marsha --

> Show me an autonomous self.  What exactly is it?
>
> I asked you for a definition an autonomous self?   You answered
> with a number of static patterns of value, analogies.  I think you
> prove my point that self is a collection of interrelated, ever-changing,
> static patterns of inorganic, biological, social and intellectual values,
> and not autonomous at all.

    Autonomy is "the quality or state of being self-governing".
    --Webster' New Collegiate Dictionary

The autonomous self is therefore one who is his/her own authority, whose 
actions express his/her proprietary values, as opposed to the conventions of 
a society, and whose beliefs are not an accommodation to external agencies.

> How is an autonomous self more than thoughts in your mind?

Defining the self (psyche) in terms of its relational experience is like 
defining a motorcycle in terms of its road history.  The result is an 
analogy instead of a proper definition.

Self (i.e., "selfness" or self-awareness) is the singular locus of one's 
conscious being, or what we call the individual's unique subjective 
identity.  Value-sensibility is the essence of experience.  But an 
individual person is a dichotomy of Beingness and Awareness.  So the 
fragmentation or differentiation of proprietary awareness into discrete 
categories, such as specific feelings, desires, thoughts, objects and 
events, is a function of the intellect working in conjunction with its 
neuro-sensory contingency.  That's how the experiential self actualizes a 
relational world from value.

Have I answered your questions definitively enough, Marsha?  If not, keep 
trying.

Best regards,
Ham