Letters February 19, 2001 Issue

YOUR LETTERS

with contributions from Nancy M. Donovan, Glenn Felch, John J. Johnson

Your January 8 issue on future identity is much appreciated and very timely. I've just returned from an academic conference in which that very topic was discussed. A young philosopher stated that, from a philosophical point of view, there is little or no distinction one can make between humans, animals, and machines. At first this struck me as nonsensical, but then I began to see that the difficulty lies in the inability of philosophy or science to define life and consciousness, when both are being studied solely from a materialistic point of view. Thank you for helping me think through this question.

Nancy M. Donovan
Oxford, Ohio

After reading "Find your worth" in the January 8 issue, I'm impelled to search for the context of Shakespeare's words. Did he write "Comparisons are odorous" or "Comparisons are odious"? The dictionary defines the two words quite differently. That aside, thank you for your ongoing efforts to keep the periodicals lively and relevant.

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