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Topic: On Knowing...
SkyHook5652 Joined Sat 08/23/08 Posts: 4063	Thu 01/07/10 12:09 PM
Instinct is innate, no matter what the source is believed to be from, one is born with it already intact. Is there a clear line which can be drawn between instinctual behaviors and learned ones? Wouldn't that mean that learned behavior is behavior with knowledge and instinctual behavior is behavior without knowledge? That could go an interesting direction. Instinctual behavior is a program or a memory. But at one time it was probably something that was learned very deeply. So deeply learned and repeated that it became ingrained into the foundation of the life form and stored as memory. It seems to me that there must be some impetus or driving force behind behavior. So I don’t think of instinct as being “memory” per se. To me “memory” is a static thing – like pictures hanging on a wall – whereas behavior is dynamic – an action. As I see it memory more akin to knowledge than behavior. For all practical purposes, I think Creative’s question about “certainty” comes the closest. Can we know anything with absolute certainty? (Other than “I AM” of course.) It seems to me that knowledge must be a gradient scale of certainty. Any concept of absloute certainty is too impractical for use as far as I’m concerned. And the simple fact that knowledge/knowing is a subjective state makes it pretty difficult to quantify objectively anyway.

Jeanniebean Joined Wed 01/30/08 Posts: 40028	Thu 01/07/10 01:55 PM Edited by Jeanniebean on Thu 01/07/10 01:58 PM
Instinct is innate, no matter what the source is believed to be from, one is born with it already intact. Is there a clear line which can be drawn between instinctual behaviors and learned ones? Wouldn't that mean that learned behavior is behavior with knowledge and instinctual behavior is behavior without knowledge? That could go an interesting direction. Instinctual behavior is a program or a memory. But at one time it was probably something that was learned very deeply. So deeply learned and repeated that it became ingrained into the foundation of the life form and stored as memory. It seems to me that there must be some impetus or driving force behind behavior. So I don’t think of instinct as being “memory” per se. To me “memory” is a static thing – like pictures hanging on a wall – whereas behavior is dynamic – an action. As I see it memory more akin to knowledge than behavior. For all practical purposes, I think Creative’s question about “certainty” comes the closest. Can we know anything with absolute certainty? (Other than “I AM” of course.) It seems to me that knowledge must be a gradient scale of certainty. Any concept of absloute certainty is too impractical for use as far as I’m concerned. And the simple fact that knowledge/knowing is a subjective state makes it pretty difficult to quantify objectively anyway. No of course we can't know anything with absolute certainly. I have always said that. All I know for certain is that I exist. But the reason I say that instinct is some kind of memory ingrained in the life form, is because I view memory as stored information, not conscious memory that a person can have access to at will. It is unconscious memory. Also, I believe we live in a thought created or manifested universe within a collective universal mind which is a unified field. All "things" (matter) exists as a standing wave and that standing wave itself is an unused (or unmoving) 'stored' thought form. It contains information that sustains its existence. Like a program for a chair in a holodeck. What we call "memory" in a computer is really just stored data. Perhaps that is what I mean. Instinct is data (or information) that is accessed only when needed by a conscious living entity.

creativesoul Joined Mon 04/16/07 Posts: 9166	Fri 01/08/10 02:08 PM
creative wrote: Instinct is innate, no matter what the source is believed to be from, one is born with it already intact. Is there a clear line which can be drawn between instinctual behaviors and learned ones? Wouldn't that mean that learned behavior is behavior with knowledge and instinctual behavior is behavior without knowledge? That could go an interesting direction. If you equate life experience to knowledge. Knowledge, to me, is justified true belief. Therefore, all behavior with knowledge is not necessarily learned behavior. Learned behavior typically indicates one's adoption of another's behavioral patterns through being repeatedly exposed to them. Learned behavior does not necessarily require knowledge.

SkyHook5652 Joined Sat 08/23/08 Posts: 4063	Fri 01/08/10 04:36 PM
creative wrote: Instinct is innate, no matter what the source is believed to be from, one is born with it already intact. Is there a clear line which can be drawn between instinctual behaviors and learned ones? Wouldn't that mean that learned behavior is behavior with knowledge and instinctual behavior is behavior without knowledge? That could go an interesting direction. If you equate life experience to knowledge. Knowledge, to me, is justified true belief. Therefore, all behavior with knowledge is not necessarily learned behavior. Learned behavior typically indicates one's adoption of another's behavioral patterns through being repeatedly exposed to them. Learned behavior does not necessarily require knowledge. Although I wouldn't have stated it the same way, interestingly enough I have no objection to that definition for knowledge. However I must acknowledge that we have somewhat different standards as to what consititutes both "justification" and "truth".