Post by Lex Luthor on Dec 4, 2008 23:50:48 GMT -5
Kant's philosophy of material substance is best summed up in three parts: 1) material particles do not take up space just by existing. Their existence is one thing, their filling of space is another. 2) Matter fills space actively, by exertion of a power of expansion/repulsion. A material object is impenetrable because it actively resists all attempts of other material objects to enter the space it occupies. Finally, 3) matter is also active in attracting every other material particle (Newtonian gravity); each particle exerts a force on every other particle in the universe, no matter how small.
Kant considered both matter and mind to be active, but mind's powers differ from matter's: 1) minds have the power to represent (Think), and are active in their thoughts. 2) Some of the mind's thoughts represent things the way they are (cognition). 3) By other thoughts (desires) minds have power to change bodies. 4) Minds are located in space, although they do not take up space. They are in space insofar as they exercise their power over bodies in space.
Now interaction between different types of substances is not a problem: 1) how material substances can interact is just as mysterious as how mental and material substances can interact; so if we have no objects to the idea that substances of the same type interact, there should be no object to interaction between different types of substances. 2) Human beings minds and their bodies are in a special type of causal relation where each is supposed constantly to cause, and be caused by, the other. 3) If it is impossible to see how mind-body interaction can be sustained among appearances, it is possible to think of the mind as a thing in itself in the right type of relation with the body as a thing in itself.
The soul/mind's immortality are traditionally subject matters of transcendent metaphysics. By "substance," Kant meant that which can only be subject of a judgment, and can never belong to anything else as a property. The traditional question was, is the soul/mind a substance "persisting" after the death of the body? Kant's answer is a definite NO. If we use "substance" correctly, then we refer to something in space-time that could possibly be encountered in experience. So all that we can mean by the "substance" of the soul/mind is that which persists as long as consciousness and experience endures. In losing one's soul (ie, becoming a vampire), they lose their mind, and all control over consciousness and experience.
Put simply: being the mind and the body are directly dependent on the existence of the other, if the body dies, so does the mind. In the example of vampires, the soul of the vampire is taken the moment they become a vampire. Understand: with no soul, the vampire ultimately has no mind, thus no control over their body. The very notion that a vampire can deduce how to survive, sire other vampires or fall in love in regards to Twilight are nonsense. The creature can do none of these things, as it does not know how.
Kant considered both matter and mind to be active, but mind's powers differ from matter's: 1) minds have the power to represent (Think), and are active in their thoughts. 2) Some of the mind's thoughts represent things the way they are (cognition). 3) By other thoughts (desires) minds have power to change bodies. 4) Minds are located in space, although they do not take up space. They are in space insofar as they exercise their power over bodies in space.
Now interaction between different types of substances is not a problem: 1) how material substances can interact is just as mysterious as how mental and material substances can interact; so if we have no objects to the idea that substances of the same type interact, there should be no object to interaction between different types of substances. 2) Human beings minds and their bodies are in a special type of causal relation where each is supposed constantly to cause, and be caused by, the other. 3) If it is impossible to see how mind-body interaction can be sustained among appearances, it is possible to think of the mind as a thing in itself in the right type of relation with the body as a thing in itself.
The soul/mind's immortality are traditionally subject matters of transcendent metaphysics. By "substance," Kant meant that which can only be subject of a judgment, and can never belong to anything else as a property. The traditional question was, is the soul/mind a substance "persisting" after the death of the body? Kant's answer is a definite NO. If we use "substance" correctly, then we refer to something in space-time that could possibly be encountered in experience. So all that we can mean by the "substance" of the soul/mind is that which persists as long as consciousness and experience endures. In losing one's soul (ie, becoming a vampire), they lose their mind, and all control over consciousness and experience.
Put simply: being the mind and the body are directly dependent on the existence of the other, if the body dies, so does the mind. In the example of vampires, the soul of the vampire is taken the moment they become a vampire. Understand: with no soul, the vampire ultimately has no mind, thus no control over their body. The very notion that a vampire can deduce how to survive, sire other vampires or fall in love in regards to Twilight are nonsense. The creature can do none of these things, as it does not know how.