RE: RE: On Leontiev

From: Nate Schmolze (nate_schmolze@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Sep 28 2000 - 18:30:13 PDT


But isn't this sort of like saying the logic is in the egg when we make an
omelette. Of course we can't make an omelette without an egg, but that does
not really take us anywhere, does it? We have creative things like
recipes - works better for some than others, and in this activity of making
omelettes we no doubt need to utilize the eggs but it definately does not
determine the omelette in any way. Now, if I go out to a nice breakfast and
have a wonderful omelette - I would suspect the activity - recipes, cooking
experience, training etc would tell me much more than the eggs. I am with
Marx I guess omelettes arize from labor not eggs.

I'm hungary now.

Nate

-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip White [mailto:Phillip_White@ceo.cudenver.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 3:24 PM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: RE: On Leontiev

xmca@weber.ucsd.edu writes:
>
>
Nate scrobe:
>
>Phillip, I am not familar with Edelmann - could you elaborate - he might
>serve as an interesting contrast. It might also make the implications of
>one
>view or the other more explicit.

i kind of fell off the ship - took me a while to clamber back on -

        okay - Edelman, Greald M. "Bright air, brilliant fire; On the matter
of the mind. (1992) Basic Books.

        to be very fast, Edelman asserts that while many animals have primary
consciousness, humans have higher concsiousness because of a recursive
loop through the language center of the brain - to be very quick -
through the brain stem, hypothalamus & autonomic systems we have value -
along with the primary cortical areas (perception), through reentrant
mapping of perceptual categorization & frontal, temporal, parietal
cortices (conceptual categorization), looping on through Broca's and
Wernicke's areas (semantics, syntax, phonology)

        through these physical structures of the brain, recursive neuronal paths,
learning occurs through social exchange.

        so, it seems to me that we come to activity (labor/work etc.) with a
simultaneously evolving physical brain structure. the two systems
boot-strap one another.

        therefore, contrary to Marx, consciousness would not arise out of labour.

        and while there is the notion of the ideal floating out there, i wonder
if we're not confusing "ideals" with a teleonomy?

phillip
>
>

          / \ / \ / \
 / \ / \

 Buddha speaking to Vasettha:
          One is not a brahmin by birth,
          Nor by birth a non-brahmin.
          By action is one a brahmin,
          by action is one a non-brahmin.
                                So that is how the truly wise
                                See action as it really is,
                                Seers of dependent origination,
                                Skilled in actions and its results.
                                                  Action makes the world
go round,
                                                  Action makes this
generation turn.
                                                  Living beings are bound
by action
                                                  Like the chariot wheel
by the pin.

phillip white
third grade teacher
doctoral student
scrambling a dissertation
denver, colorado
phillip_white@ceo.cudenver.edu



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