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Having an Inner Life
Author(s) -
Springsted Eric O.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
philosophical investigations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1467-9205
pISSN - 0190-0536
DOI - 10.1111/phin.12265
Subject(s) - naturalism , value (mathematics) , causality (physics) , epistemology , sort , right to life , philosophy , value of life , psychology , sociology , computer science , law , political science , ecology , biology , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , human rights , information retrieval
We readily recognize the concept of an inner life as a moral category. We struggle to say what an inner life is, though. This essay examines and rejects naturalistic attempts to either dismiss the idea of an inner life or make it a matter of brain states, a sort of efficient causality to behaviour. Relying on Simone Weil's distinction between “the language of the market place and the language of the nuptial chamber,” it distinguishes, as she did, between levels of value. The inner life is a life of dealing with values that demand some kind of personal and intimate response.