[Buddha-l] Moment of individuation

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-04-18 at 16:04 -0400, Stanley J. Ziobro II wrote:

> 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.

Isn't it just that we call an organism by a certain name by observing
what it eats?

> 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 seems hopelessly confused. Surely what any organism eats is
influenced strongly by what kinds of food it can find, eat and digest.
Those are all functions of the body. What need is there to introduce a
discussion of souls? What explanatory value does talking of souls have
that is not already provided by referring to such things as claws, teeth
and guts?

> Of course, it is true that some carnivores also eat fruits
> and/or vegetables, but essentially they are carnivores. 

Why speak of essences at all? What is gained by introducing that sort of
language. Surely anything that eats only meat is a carnivore, while
anything that eats only vegetable matter is an herbivore, and gorillas
in the human family are best described as omnivores (except those whose
circumstances and/or persuasions lead them to avoid eating meat).

Your comments show, now doubt, the influence of your convictions, just
as mine show the influence of mine. Your educational background
predisposes you to speak in terms of souls and essences, and my
educational background predisposes me to eschew such talk as otiose. If
I had been raised in a different tribe, I would probably speak
differently. Reason, as I see it, has nothing much to do with any of
this, even less does empirical observation. We are both men of blind
faith. The main difference is that you see yourself as a creature of
blind faith, and I see myself as an evolute of blind faith.

Blindly (but faithfully) yours,
Richard

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico