endsthegame: (Default)
endsthegame ([personal profile] endsthegame) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2013-06-10 01:10 pm

Practical Philosophy, Monday

Because the weather hadn't gotten much better, class was indoors again today, in a simple classroom. The desks had been shoved aside and there were pillows on the floor as well as the ubiquitous bag of sandwiches.

"Sorry I didn't make it last week," Ender said, sitting down once everyone else in the class had arrived. "Fandom struck and turned me into something. I'm sure you're all familiar with that by now."

He shot them a wry look.

"I hope I won't be retreading anything Yeul spoke to you about last week," he said. Glancing at the girl if she was there, he added, "I'm thankful you were able to fill in."

Then he cleared his throat and said, "This island has a habit of plucking us from our beds and turning us into something else at the drop of a hat," he said. "Frankly, it's a pain in the ass at best, a matter of extreme concern and panic at worst. Still, it does bring us to one of the most classic of all philosophical questions: what makes you yourself?" His expression got even wryer.

"If someone changes some element of your history, does that make you a different person? When you inhabit the body of a cat or a wolf, your brains rewired for the occasion, are you still yourself? Or are we who we are only in the moment that we are, and then our personalities are redistributed by the flash of a neuron? If we're shaped like something alien, does that suddenly turn us into something alien to ourselves?"

He sat back. "Just something to think about," he said.
pulseof_life: (picking up a flower)

Re: Talk.

[personal profile] pulseof_life 2013-06-10 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"I could be wrong but in a hypothetical situation like this, I think so," Yeul said slowly. "No one can say what will make a difference to another person except for the person themselves. In a situation where it actually occurs, I think the reality of the answer would be more complex than 'different person: yes or no'."
pulseof_life: (wish on a flower)

Re: Talk.

[personal profile] pulseof_life 2013-06-10 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeul's smile went wry. "Then they are unlikely to know of any changes and will be unable to answer if there is a difference or not."