You're assuming that only 'deep thoughts' constitute thinking, when in fact they constitute *human* thinking, and mostly useless and/or counterproductive thinking at that. Most of the thinking is in the form of knee jerk reaction nonthinking that gets in the way of humanity's own narrow definition of life. Mindedness is much more than sentience. It's about exploring one's world and knowing how to use that world to one's advantage, for example, to make one's self undesirable to invading insects (it's what makes vegetables so nutritious) and on and on. I saw a cartoon in the New Yorker of a guy walking on a tight rope with a balance thing in his hands and a squirrel and birds sitting on the tight rope saying Ooo, we're sooo impressed. Humans really need to get out more. They know how to read but they literally don't know to come in out of the rain half the time. And dogs may not think 'deep thoughts' but in addition to far better senses than we have, they also have a sixth sense. Mindedness in humans comes from the same electrical, chemical stuff in the brain that runs the trees and leaves and all other life. Unfortunately for humans, they feel they're better than the rest of life put together, when in fact we're only one species that's doing a real number on itself. --- On Sun, 6/1/08, Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> wrote: From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Here's a new spin on preventative medicine To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sunday, June 1, 2008, 12:47 AM I did not say that 'only statements, etc., exist in a true/false context.' I have no idea what that means and don't want to guess. I said that it is only statements. etc., of which truth or falsity is predicated. I grant that 'true' and 'false' are sometimes used to distinguish the genuine from the fake, as in 'true friend,' 'true Scotsman,' etc. But here 'true' and 'false' can be replaced, with no loss of meaning with 'genuine, 'real, 'authentic,' or 'fake,' 'ersatz,' 'phony,' 'unreliable,' 'Made in China,' as needed. Truth, in the interesting sense usually takes a that clause: 'It's true that [whales are mammals], as does falsehood: 'It's false [that whales are fish].' I really don't know what mindedness is (is is something like sentience?) or what it has to do with truth or falsity. I'm not sure a tree 'knows how' to keep itself going, as opposed to merely doing it. Could a tree forget and suddenly wither? Do kudzu vines really care about the environment, or are they botanical rogues? These are questions for the philosophers here. I believe, of course, in Ents, and have no doubt that my dogs think deep thoughts. Robert Paul > Responding to Robert Paul first, if one says only statements, etc. exist > in a true/false context, we eliminate a huge chunk of mindedness, i.e. > nearly all of life. A tree has mindedness. It knows how to turn the > sun into life, how to grow leaves, how to get water, and on and on. It > lives in the same realm of electrical and chemical impulses and > communication within itself and with its environment that we do, and > every bit as sophisticated as we are. And it's far more intelligent, > since it doesn't destroy the environment it lives in. To limit > truth/falsity to concrete statements and concrete things is to say that > humans are such a reduced species. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html