tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post5728602299924235915..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Snark vs. ValuesGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-85584773378205433132011-04-06T13:30:52.222-06:002011-04-06T13:30:52.222-06:00Thanks for that very intelligent criticism, Sam.
...Thanks for that very intelligent criticism, Sam.<br /><br />Thinking back on this post, I would say that I was reacting against what I saw as a deterministic premise in that sentence which, as you show, wasn't necessarily implied.<br /><br />I would say that, in the sense of forming habits by repeating certain actions, or making richer mental connections (as with repeatedly listening to a piece of music), I would have to agree that what you do CAN change how you think. <br /><br />But in another sense, it doesn't. Daisley may well form a habit of being less impulsive about what she says, but if the habit arose due to certain deeply-held, negative convictions about other people on her part, I think more than just not always being snarky will be required on her part to change the convictions at the root of her original habit. In that sense, she may be more receptive to changing how she thinks, without having yet changed on that deeper level.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-18584890501820283032011-04-06T13:08:43.178-06:002011-04-06T13:08:43.178-06:00Why do you believe it is inaccurate to say, "...Why do you believe it is inaccurate to say, "What you do changes how you think"? <br /><br />Assuming I haven't misunderstood you: What would you say is going on in cases where consistent repetition is followed by habitual automation? It definitely seems that the automatic performance of tasks allows for other thoughts to occur (in place of thoughts originally required for doing those tasks) - though perhaps this is not what you were getting at.<br /><br />How about this: Does not the way in which you react to a piece of music, art, or literature change as you become familiar with it. Are the acts that are leading to your familiarity with a work not also changing the way you think about it?<br /><br />If that fails to make the point, take suicide: an unpleasant - but materialistically concrete - example. Suicide definitely seems to be something one does; it is difficult to imagine non-spiritual appeals that would suggest being dead does not affect how one thinks (alternatively, consider an unsuccessful attempt with resultant brain-damage).<br /><br />It may be <b>more</b> accurate to say that <b>experience</b> changes how we think. Unless we accept determinism, however, to the extent that we choose certain experiences for ourselves, ipso facto, what we do <i>does</i> change how we think.Sam N.noreply@blogger.com