Friday, February 20, 2009

Love and Other Constructs of the Mind

If love is just chemical then if i reproduce the same chemical in someones brain
can I literally make them fall in love with anybody?

A: That is the "deterministic" (or worse, the "fatalistic") explanation of

emotions. Emotions, consciousness, soul, free will, conscience, etc are not "just"
chemicals or snynapses or whatever science declares it to be.

Science is not wrong, except in its metaphysical classification of these events as

being "just" chemical, or "merely" bio-physiology at work.

Metaphysics is the art of constructing explanations for everything that exists.

For example, the description of a "table" is metaphysical, while the table itself
is physical. Every word except personal pro-nouns, in every language, represents a
metaphysical concept. Deterministic science dismisses the metaphysical description
of conscious and bio-physiological events as anything more than the stark
scientific (physics) description.

However, "love" and all the rest of that is obviously much more than the sum of
its total bio-physiological activity. It has metaphysical meaning for all of us
that encompasses not only the recognition that love is a reaction to something,
but that since we don't all love the same things, there must be a relation between
the bio-physiology and the metaphysics we each, individually, hold.

Your metaphysics may be somewhat or extremely different than mine, and different
from someone else. Sometimes we do not even recognize the metaphysics of another
person; in other words, he and we seem to be talking about two different things
when in fact we are talking about two different things--his metaphysical
evaluation describes "love" as bio-physiology, while yours and mine describes it
as "a pleasurable emotion that gives us confirmation that something is important
enough to value beyond "like."
Since love is an individual response by one person to the value system he/she
subscribes to, it would be impossible to make someone love what you want them to
love through the introduction of a "love chemical"--at least not without inciting
within them a neurosis having to do with the conflict between what you have forced
them to love, and what they actually value enough to love

What is this moment call "now?"?

Epistemologically, it is the only moment in existence. The old play on words is

correct: "Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow will never come."

Time is a construct of the mind that allows it to string together all the moments
of "now" into something cohesive and having the charcteristic of endlessness, yet
because of the construct we can remember prior moments of now.
"Time is a measurement of motion; as such, it is a type of relationship. Time
applies only within the universe, when you define a standard—such as the motion of
the earth around the sun. If you take that as a unit, you can say: 'This person
has a certain relationship to that motion; he has existed for three revolutions;
he is three years old.' But when you get to the universe as a whole, obviously no
standard is applicable. You cannot get outside the universe. The universe is
eternal in the literal sense: non-temporal, out of time." Leonard Peikoff, “The
Philosophy of Objectivism” lecture series (1976), question period, Lecture 2

"The idea of an infinitely small amount of length or temporal duration has

validity only as a mathematical device useful for making certain calculations, not
as a description of components of reality. Reality does not contain either points
or instants (in the mathematical sense)." Harry Binswanger “Q & A Department:
Identity and Motion,” The Objectivist Forum, Dec. 1981, 13.

The brain has a "clock speed", which works virtually the same way as a computer.
It has been estimated that our minds can absorb approximately 10 "moments" each
second, and it is these moments we string together for the illusion that time is
continuous (whereas it is actually motion that is continuous.) Time, as stated
above, is a relationship to motion. But we do not comprehend each of those 10
moments each second; sometimes we don't even comprehend "seconds" because when
something extraordinary or at least eventful and consciousness-filling happens, we
say "time flies." An hour can go by in what feels like minutes.So the moment we
call now is only the moment you are in and only when you realize you are in it. It
can be as short as your mind can comprehend, or as long as your mind is consumed
in an interest.

What constitutes beauty in your eyes?

When we say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we are talking about
metaphysical values. Generally, our species appreciates that beautiful sunset, a
great play or movie, a job well done, heros, birth, and the "eternal" over the
"transient" because of metaphysical value judgments we make.

Metaphysics, "in the formation of a sense of life, [which has since come to be
called a "world view"] is the term important. It is a concept that belongs to the
realm of values, since it implies an answer to the question: Important—to whom?
Yet its meaning is different from that of moral values. Important does not
necessarily mean 'good.' It means 'a quality, character or standing such as to
entitle to attention or consideration' (The American College Dictionary).

“Important—in its essential meaning, as distinguished from its more limited and
superficial uses—is a metaphysical term. It pertains to that aspect of metaphysics
which serves as a bridge between metaphysics and ethics: to a fundamental view of
man’s nature."

Is the universe intelligible to man, or unintelligible and unknowable? Can man

find happiness on earth, or is he doomed to frustration and despair? Does man have
the power of choice, the power to choose his goals and to achieve them, the power
to direct the course of his life—or is he the helpless plaything of forces beyond
his control, which determine his fate? Is man, by nature, to be valued as good, or
to be despised as evil?" Ayn Rand, various sources
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/metaph...

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