So we can actually chill-out and float upstream in a reality free of instrumentality, from time to time. — Chris Degnen
That is fine in a world of thought and things, but in an unconditioned world without (or before) thought there is no telos. — Chris Degnen
I would say that whether there is or is not such a world is precisely what is in question. And the essential fact of telos suggests to me that there is not such an unconditioned world. — Pantagruel
"Passive volition" is an example of a paradoxical concept found in Tibetan yoga and zen buddhism. But this is not being without mind so much as it is being of two minds. — Pantagruel
"there is a perception of a refined truth of the dimension of nothingness" — Chris Degnen
"there is a perception of a refined truth of the dimension of nothingness" — Chris Degnen
Various philosophers also consider the faculty of "intellectual intuition" — Pantagruel
But I don't see the "null-state" as being meaningful, except as an exercise perhaps. — Pantagruel
I think it has utility as an aspiration, as in calling thought into action when required and resting it when not required; — Chris Degnen
I do think that will can and should be employed in both an externally realizing and internally self-restraining sense — Pantagruel
As far as there being something "prior to thought" here we part ways. This can only be speculation, IMO — Pantagruel
Incomplete Nature by Terrance Deacon is an interesting modern attempt to recover Aristotlean formal cause through thermodynamics and thus to explain purposeful behavior and the emergence of first person perspective. It isn't fully convincing, but it's the best effort I've seen.
One deficit it has though is that it assumes that information only exists in terms of life, as a given. To assume otherwise would be to introduce humonculi for Deacon.
I think this is mistaken. My hunch is that a satisfactory accounting of intentionality will include an explanation of the way perspective and semiotic elements of reality are "baked in" from the outset. Scott Mueller's "Asymmetry: The Foundation of Information," and Carlo Rovelli's "Helgoland," have some interesting points on this front. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Nevertheless something gives rise to thought, and since it is prior it is without telos — Chris Degnen
I think this is mistaken. My hunch is that a satisfactory accounting of intentionality will include an explanation of the way perspective and semiotic elements of reality are "baked in" from the outset. Scott Mueller's "Asymmetry: The Foundation of Information," and Carlo Rovelli's "Helgoland," have some interesting points on this front. — Count Timothy von Icarus
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