11-03-2010, 12:30 PM
Hey everyone,
This is a really interesting train of thought. But I wonder how far we can tease this out? The general agreement I see arising here is that the response to my initial question is "no", and that regardless of circumstances, you as an individual are in part responsible for what you are seeing by virtue of the fact that you are seeing it, and therefore thinking about it. And because thoughts are not inert brain processes but in fact are tangible things on the reciprocal of physical reality (time/space), we bear a level of responsibility for them.
By this way of thinking, should we then also feel responsible when we enter a movie theater? Most films center around some sort of drama, and physical violence is of course often a part of that. What about going to see a play like 'The Merchant of Venice', put on by live actors? What about reading history books about past wars? All of these could arguably fall in to a similar category. We view or read these things and as our minds focus in on the screenplay, drama, or story in the book we become emotionally involved, intellectually stimulated and all the rest that comes with paying attention to such things. Is the general consensus still the same as regards these things?
I'm still not fully convinced of there needing to feel personally responsibility in these cases, nor even of the first examples- but am still quite interested to hear your thoughts. To those who are following this thread but not responding- please chip in!
L&L, ~L
This is a really interesting train of thought. But I wonder how far we can tease this out? The general agreement I see arising here is that the response to my initial question is "no", and that regardless of circumstances, you as an individual are in part responsible for what you are seeing by virtue of the fact that you are seeing it, and therefore thinking about it. And because thoughts are not inert brain processes but in fact are tangible things on the reciprocal of physical reality (time/space), we bear a level of responsibility for them.
By this way of thinking, should we then also feel responsible when we enter a movie theater? Most films center around some sort of drama, and physical violence is of course often a part of that. What about going to see a play like 'The Merchant of Venice', put on by live actors? What about reading history books about past wars? All of these could arguably fall in to a similar category. We view or read these things and as our minds focus in on the screenplay, drama, or story in the book we become emotionally involved, intellectually stimulated and all the rest that comes with paying attention to such things. Is the general consensus still the same as regards these things?
I'm still not fully convinced of there needing to feel personally responsibility in these cases, nor even of the first examples- but am still quite interested to hear your thoughts. To those who are following this thread but not responding- please chip in!
L&L, ~L