I was recently having a discussion (one that
got rather heated!) with a friend that seems
to tie in with the mind-body dilemma and
personal identity.

We were talking about the emphasis our
society often puts on physical
attractiveness, especially in terms of
romantic interest. I said that I'd date
Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) if
he was fun to be with, intelligent,
considerate, etc. Who cares what he looks
like?!

My friend said that he felt that being
attracted to someone for their intelligence
(for example) was just as arbitrary as being
attracted to someone for their looks, since
people can't choose their intelligence. I
agreed that we can't choose our IQ, but we
can choose how to use our brains, we can
choose our behavior, etc -- much more than
we can choose how we look. (There seems to
be an element of free will arguments here,
too)

My friend's main point was why should
someone's mind be more important in terms of
Who They Are (personal identity) than their
body?

I still haven't come up with an argument to
convince him otherwise; I was just floored
by his entire suggestion because it had
absolutely never occurred to me! It made me
think a lot about what the Self really is,
and which aspect(s) of myself are The Real
Me.


Kimberly *
fruitbat@cookiemonster.com

"What is truth? I don't know and I'm
sorry I brought it up."

-- Edward Abbey