VML-5/18/02

[Guest guest]

As I told you the other day, it is pretty much the same discussion

you have in Europe as to substance and quality, one set holding that

behind the qualities there is something as substance, in which the

qualities inhere; and the other denying the existence of such a

substance as being unnecessary, for the qualities live by themselves.

The most ancient theory of the soul, of course, is based upon the

argument of self-identity - " I am I " - that the I of yesterday is the I

of tomorrow; that in spite of all the changes that are happening to

the body, I believe that I am the same I. This seems to have been the

central argument with those who believed in a limited, and yet

perfectly complete, individual soul.