Blog #3 - Brittney McLaughlin

I'll reiterate what I've said in a past post about Pinker - I can't believe I find myself siding with him. I can't believe that I'm agreeing with someone who insists that environment has no bearing on one's personality. However, when faced with the two extremes that are Pinker and Descartes, I have to stick with Pinker. I would believe that one's body (genes) has complete control over the mind (behaviors) before I believe that the two are completely unrelated. Maybe this is because I legitimately cannot understand how someone could say that the mind and the body can exist separately when I would not be able to type this post without my mind telling my fingers to move across the keyboard.

I suppose, theoretically, that Descartes is correct in his assertion that the mind and body are two separate entities. A body can continue to function once a person is brain-dead. A mind can still function if the body is paralyzed. But one without the other is clearly not an ideal way of life.

It's much more difficult for me to find similarities between the two, other than that they both seem to be extremists who believe that they are all-knowing beings and no one should really dare to question them. But, I just ended up even more confused after examining the Heaven's Gate example from both points of view. Heaven's Gate reminds me a lot of the Jonestown Massacre - which really freaks me out because these cults don't really seem to differ all that much from my own religion that I was raised with. Being a Christian, I was always told that my mind and soul are separate from my body - when I 'die', my body will stop functioning, but my mind and soul will continue on in another realm (Heaven). I mean...isn't this basically what those involved in Heaven's Gate and Jonestown believed? Perhaps this is part of Descartes' argument -  but I was under the impression that Descartes believed not only that the mind and body are separate beings, but that they really have no impact on one another. But, as in the mass suicides of Heaven's Gate and Jonestown, we also must have the physical capacity to take our own lives. If my body was separate from my mind, why would it not resist my mind telling me to end my life? On the other hand, I think it's insane to believe that those involved in these scenarios killed themselves because of their genetic makeup. I'm more familiar with the Jonestown Massacre, and I know that many people involved were families which /could/ backup Pinker's theory that these children willingly drank poison because they had the same genes as their parents who did the same. However, I think it's much more likely that they did so because they were forced to be a part of this cult, and therefor were influenced by everyone around them.

All in all, I have my own opinions, but can see pieces from both Pinker and Descartes in the world. That being said, I'm no more clear on their theories now than I was before examining this case, and my ramblings above are my attempt at making a little sense out of it.