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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (78568)	4/21/2000 3:52:00 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

How can it be a refinement of the survival instinct if it goes far beyond the imperatives of survival? It goes beyond the immediate imperatives of survival precisely because it is a refinement. if we seek improvement, we must have some idea of what that would consist of, nor is it arbitrary, but derived from the contemplation of human faculties and desires, and a theory of their fulfillment Improvement is rarely the result of theories and contemplations. It is much more frequently the result of people observing a process, thinking of a better way to do it, and putting that idea into effect. Nobody had to contemplate to convince early man that soil with lots of animal poop grew better crops than soil with none, or that using fire to chase a mammoth off a cliff was an improvement over trying to kill him with a spear or club. Our innovations come step by step, and are generally driven by the practical side of us, not by the contemplative side. Once the improvements are made the contemplators contemplate them and decide what they "mean".

To: Neocon who wrote (78568)	4/21/2000 4:13:00 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I should perhaps add, after the edit window, that I never said that humans have no purpose beyond the natural imperatives of survival, procreation, and expansion of the species. I said that any purpose beyond that is a purpose that we chose for ourselves. This is why it is perfectly possible to have - as we do in fact have - numerous and frequently contradictory purposes. I would also say that many of the purposes we choose for ourselves are refinements of those natural imperatives.