Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Sentient (or self-aware - I can spell that better). Where you draw the line is open to debate. I don't consider it a sharp line either... But, for convienence (another tought word to spell for me), I limit it currently to humans, because the issue was to try to answer DM, as best I could. It doesn't mean I'm logical, or right. Just trying to explain the "basis" for my world view.
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I thank you for the attempt to answer, though the answer you gave wasn't quite what I was trying to find out. I think you did a decent job of explaining the rational basis for behavior you consider ethical, but the behavior I'm interested in tends not to happen on the rational level.
I sometimes call mankind the "rationalizing animal". Decisions tend to be made on a gut level. Much of what passes for rational thought consists of attempts after the fact to justify what we've already decided to do, and to demonstrate why it's not merely a valid course of action, but the best one possible under the circumstances. It happens
after the decision is made, not before.
As mentioned elsewhere, we all have an unconscious conception of who we are and how we fit into the world around us that colors our perceptions and influences our behavior. And we seek above all to defend that belief. (Modern druidism, incidentally, calls that the "primary protective decision".)
Consider the tedious folks (whom you've probably run into) whose basic belief about others is "They're all a bunch of dirty so-and-sos who will shaft you if they get a chance!" Such folks tend to set themselves up to get shafted, because what they want is not to avoid getting shafted. What they
really want is to
be shafted so they can say "You see? I was
right! They
are all a bunch of dirty so-and-sos!" They seek evidence that they are correct in their worldview. My concern is where they got that belief in the first place.
Worldviews somewhat out of phase with reality produce behavior we call neuroses. Worldviews really out of phase with reality produce behavior we call psychoses. Part of the job of psychiatry is making that unconscious worldview conscious and explicit, so it may be examined and (hopefully) modified when it produces behavior that is harmful. Challenging someone's worldview can produce extreme and even violent responses, so psychiatry can be a dangerous profession.
Consider the folks who lay the blame for a lot of ills on greedy corporations, who they feel are attempting to influence the law and manipulate the economy in the service of higher profits, and that they are getting hurt in the process. It certainly happens in particular, and the financial pages of the newspapers tend to have stories about just such actions. But generalizing from the particular is always risky, and when I encounter folks who assume
all corporations behave like that and cast themselves as the victims, I have to ask "Why do you make that assumption?"
Digging for the underlying worldview that produces particular responses is always a laborious task, because the first challenge is getting a clear articulation of a particular gut level belief, and the second is getting a coherent response about why that belief is held.
I heard about an elegant psychiatric technique intended to help the psychiatrist understand the patient's worldview. The question for the patient was "Pretend your life is a fairy tale. Which fairy tale is it, and which character are you?" The responses could be fascinating.
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Dennis