[Buddha-l] Moment of individuation

[Stanley J. Ziobro II]

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005, Thomas Oltman wrote:

> > > "Stanley J. Ziobro II" <ziobro at wfu.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> >Vegetative, animate, and intellectual
> >creatures however do undergo various levels of growth and individuation.
> >Food, as an energy source, is needed to maintain the physical organism,
> >but the very dynamism that accounts for actual development cannot be
> >attibuted merely to this food.  The ability to assimilate the food
> >requires something more than the presence of food.  Another consideration
> >is that the organism develops in a particular manner with very specific
> >characteristics, and these teleological functions are not located in the
> >food source.
>
> Independently of the rest of your argument, I think it's false to say
> "teleological functions are not located in the
> food source".  Doesn't the food source (and the rest of the environment)
> determine quite directly which functions the organism will develop,
> including any teleological ones?  You not only are what you eat, but what
> you eat has , with a little help from his friends, formed you specifically
> to eat it.

Tom,

It seems to me correct to say that the sort of food an organism will
assimilate depends on the sort of being that organism is.  A carnivore
will eat meat because it is a carnivore, not because meat as a food source
determines it to be a carnivore.  What essentially determines an organism
to be animate and carnivore is the kind of soul that is the dynamism of
its particular individuation.  This is what I sought to address in my
remarks.  Of course, it is true that some carnivores also eat fruits
and/or vegetables, but essentially they are carnivores.  And I do see your
point that, withing the context of a particular habitat or environment the
food source serves, passively, a teleological function.

> Better, perhaps, to say "these teleological functions are not located only
> in the food source, but also in the individual class.

I would invert the order, but I accept the expansion and greater precision
you note here.  Thanks.

Stan Ziobro