Reply to comment

One of the questions posed in class this week was what was the main difference between mammals and other vertebrates.  I was thinking about this in terms of the nature versus nurture argument and also in light of a recent article I read www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/health/16brod.html concerning empathy.  I am wondering if the main difference has to do with the nuturing ability that mammals have that perhaps vertebrates do not have.  Perhaps mammals are a mixture of nature and nurture, while vertebrates are simply nature.  This makes sense to me when considering emotions such as empathy and how mammals have the ability to foster and encourage certain innate emotions.  Mammals, as a result of a larger brain and a greater capacity for thought, have the ability to construct complex emotions and feelings such as empathy and love and affection, that perhaps vertebrates are mentally ill-equipped to construct.  Just a thought...

I do appreciate our new box labeled the I-function.  Does this I-function = mind?  Or do we normally associate mind as being disembodied or separate from brain?  Is this I-function unique to mammals?  Is it unique to humans?  If the I function box is where the self is created, is the I-function box limited to mammals with self-awareness or are there I-function box variations? I am very interested in exploring this I-function box construction.