The Retreat of Reason Part 1 pps

[...]... digs the finger nails into the palms of one’s hands, one screams or groans Some of these potentially intentional forms of behaviour are obviously designed to eliminate or minimize both the sensation of pain and the bodily harm of which it is normally a sign, for example the withdrawal from the source of the pain and the keeping still of the limb injured Others may seem to be designed to fit neither of these... but they may all the same have at least the function of mitigating the sensation of pain There is experimental evidence indicating that, if the stimulation of other receptors increases, the sensitivity of the ones that originally caused one to feel pain decreases: that, for example, “vibration decreases the perceived intensity of mild or moderate levels of pain” (Melzack, 19 73: 11 0) Applications of. .. desire any of 18 The Nature of Para-cognitive Attitudes these things more than pleasure, should not be ready to undergo a loss of pleasure for their sakes (and I shall contend that there is no such reason) The Sensory Quality View of Pain Sensations of pain will be discussed first because the view I shall take on the nature of hedonic sensations is less controversial here than in the case of pleasure... solve these problems, but also to broach the question of the practical import of the solutions Other scientific disciplines, for example theoretical physics, may deal with equally general problems (to some extent the same ones, for example about the nature of space and time) But philosophy is unique in encompassing both the theoretical and the practical dimension The very size and complexity of these... raised So, the provisional character of the conclusions at which I arrive must be stressed There could be no final word on how one should live in the light of philosophical truth or awareness of the general structure of the world, as knowledge and reflection constantly progress A further, more theoretical, reason for why there are few attempts to merge the theoretical and practical may be found in the widespread... teach children the meaning of ‘a sensation of pain’, there must be some observable circumstances—like an effect of the sensation, such as behaviour, or a cause of it, such as injury—that indicates when they feel it It still does not follow that any reference to these circumstances must be part of the meaning of ‘a sensation of pain’ A description like the type of sensation that is an effect of cause C... sensations of pain and pleasure or, in other words, bodily pains and pleasures The reason for this is that I agree with David Hume’s statement: “Bodily pains and pleasures are the source of many passions, both when felt and consider’d by the mind” (17 39–40 /19 78: 276) More precisely, I hold there to be sensory qualities of pleasure and pain the exemplification of which forms the object of a fundamental class of. .. consequential upon the desire’s ( believed) satisfaction (and would be so even if the object of the desire is not pleasure) and which may be the object of a higher-order desire For if one confuses the idea that pleasure is always consequential upon the (believed) fulfilment of one’s desires, with the idea that pleasure can be the object of desire, one may slide to the hedonist thesis that the object of desire... Furthermore, I contend that all such desires provide reasons, that there is no objective requirement that such reasons have to meet to provide reasons In broad outline, the argument is this Beliefs are designed to fit the facts of the world This gives sense to the claim that there is something we are required to believe: the facts Desires have the opposite direction of fit: they are formed to change the. .. idealist in the intra-personal domain of prudence, it is permissible to be so in the inter-personal sphere of morality This 10 Introduction follows from my analysis of personal identity in the first half of Part IV which reveals it to be rationally insignificant Since the distinction between ourselves and others is rationally insignificant, we may in the moral domain handle the life and desires of another (relevantly . NEUTRALITY 19 3 14 . Introduction: The Notion of a Temporal Bias 19 5 15 . The Irrationality of the Bias towards the Near 205 16 . The Irrationality of the Bias towards the Future 211 17 . The Dilemma. Objective Requirement? 12 9 10 . The Desire Relativity of Value 14 3 11 . The Rationality of Para-cognitive Attitudes 15 8 12 . Weakness of Will 16 8 13 . Representational Mechanisms 18 2 PART III: RATIONALITY. implications for the business of living. An understanding of the distinction between the analytic and the synthetic, of conditionals, of their role in the analysis of causation, of the relation between