got it hot for teacher
So I have a crush on my philosophy professor. He looks very similar to Bryan Hooten, only skinnier and with dark hair. He looks like a gangly trombone player with glasses, which is totally my type. I think he's married though, he has a ring (darn). Anyway, we've been talking about Descarte's Meditations and reactions to them for the past few weeks, and today we discussed the idea of the mind versus the body, and the thought that they are two separate substances, the mind being a non-extended, thinking thing, and the body being the opposite, which is to say and extended, thinking thing. As they are separate, the mind can exist without the body, and vice versa. They don't depend on one another to exist, but yet they are linked in some unexplainable way by God (presuming God exists, as Descartes argues throughout the Meditations). They are somehow bound metaphysically. The problem is in this link between the mind and the body. What is it? What is the relationship, how is it defined? The body is aware of the mind, and vice versa as well.
All this led me to think about the mind and body existing separately. I understand the idea of a soul without a body---a "ghost" or some other metaphysical entity. But the body without a soul? That got me interested. What would a body be like without a soul? Why doesn't Descartes discuss the possibilities of what this would entail? Probably because his main concern is proving that the soul exists separately from the body. What it would be like? Purely a body that only acted on instincts and nothing else?
A zombie?!!!
So, after thinking about this all day, I decided I would e-mail him and ask him about this. This is the e-mail and response:
Hi Professor, I hope this question isn't absolutely ridiculous, and I apologize if it is. Referencing our class discussion today, do you think it would be at all interesting or fruitful to apply Cartesian ideology to understand/analyze/explain the concept of the zombie in the horror genre? Has anyone (to your knowledge) ever done this? I can understand the idea of a soul without a body, but a body without a soul seems more difficult to conceptualize...and all I can think of would be some sort of a zombie--something reduced to bodily instinct only. Thanks, SB
Response:
No, it's not ridiculous at all. I can't think of something that does exactly what you're asking about, though it wouldn't surprise me if someone had. I can think of a couple of somewhat relevant things though. There's been a lot of discussion in the philosophy of mind in recent years of so-called philosophical zombies, creatures which are physically just like us but have no consciousness. There's an article on them in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zombies/). These aren't really zombies as seen in movies, but they are relatives of them. And section 1 of that article even begins by talking about Descartes. Looking at it from a different angle, Noel Carroll has a book on the Philosophy of Horror, though I don't believe he has much to say about zombies. Stewart Sweet!! It makes me happy to think I'm not crazy. Well maybe I am, but I like my crazy ideas, especially when they are validated :)
All this led me to think about the mind and body existing separately. I understand the idea of a soul without a body---a "ghost" or some other metaphysical entity. But the body without a soul? That got me interested. What would a body be like without a soul? Why doesn't Descartes discuss the possibilities of what this would entail? Probably because his main concern is proving that the soul exists separately from the body. What it would be like? Purely a body that only acted on instincts and nothing else?
A zombie?!!!
So, after thinking about this all day, I decided I would e-mail him and ask him about this. This is the e-mail and response:
Hi Professor, I hope this question isn't absolutely ridiculous, and I apologize if it is. Referencing our class discussion today, do you think it would be at all interesting or fruitful to apply Cartesian ideology to understand/analyze/explain the concept of the zombie in the horror genre? Has anyone (to your knowledge) ever done this? I can understand the idea of a soul without a body, but a body without a soul seems more difficult to conceptualize...and all I can think of would be some sort of a zombie--something reduced to bodily instinct only. Thanks, SB
Response:
No, it's not ridiculous at all. I can't think of something that does exactly what you're asking about, though it wouldn't surprise me if someone had. I can think of a couple of somewhat relevant things though. There's been a lot of discussion in the philosophy of mind in recent years of so-called philosophical zombies, creatures which are physically just like us but have no consciousness. There's an article on them in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zombies/). These aren't really zombies as seen in movies, but they are relatives of them. And section 1 of that article even begins by talking about Descartes. Looking at it from a different angle, Noel Carroll has a book on the Philosophy of Horror, though I don't believe he has much to say about zombies. Stewart Sweet!! It makes me happy to think I'm not crazy. Well maybe I am, but I like my crazy ideas, especially when they are validated :)