Donnadogsoth Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Perspective is relative. If I have a hamster, I wonder, what's it like to be my hamster? Well, to the hamster, being a hamster is normal, just as to me, being a human is normal. So, regardless of what accidental differences the hamster and I have, we share the commonality of feeling that we are normal, respectively. The only way that we might differ, it seems, is in the degree to which our desires are fulfilled. My hamster may be very fulfilled and therefore very happy, or it may be unfulfilled and unhappy. The same goes for me. So, in this sense, we can see there could be a difference between myself and my hamster. But, this is not a difference in principle. It is not radically different to be a man compared to a hamster. Or is it? Plato's Socrates in The Republic spoke of how a rational man is superior to the courageous or the merely appetitive sorts of men, because being rational he can compare the three types and judge among them, whereas the latter two types have no understanding of the rational and therefore cannot judge. In this sense, then, I as a man can judge that I am superior to my hamster, because I possess the reason allowing me to judge the matter, whereas it lacks this faculty and exists purely in the determination of its instincts. So, we see that there is a comparative quality that differs between us, even though we remain equally normal, and this quality is only viewable to ourselves as reasoning beings. The hamster exists in invincible ignorance regarding the mental-emotional difference between itself and myself. I see that we are different, even though my feeling of normality is the same. I am conscious of my superiority to the hamster in this regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barn Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 15 minutes ago, Donnadogsoth said: Perspective is relative. If I have a hamster, I wonder, what's it like to be my hamster? Well, to the hamster, being a hamster is normal, just as to me, being a human is normal. So, regardless of what accidental differences the hamster and I have, we share the commonality of feeling that we are normal, respectively. Can a hamster feel remorse? Is it possible to prove it wouldn't have eaten the last bit of animal feed, because it was thinking of how it's consumption might be affecting the other hamsters around? No. Don't choose relativism if your life and your individuality you cherished. Any other case, good luck! Barnsley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofd Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Quote Well, to the hamster, being a hamster is normal How do you know? What do you know about the mental processes of your hamster, if you haven't been a hamster at one time in your life? How do we know that you aren't a hamster, pretending to be a human on the internet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardY Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries." So basically appetite and courage(for ones kin) are what?, analog in nature? What faculty does rationality provide other than the ability to judge?, create some new soviet man? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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