Philosophy Question #2

Defining self-hood

In the world of Dune, a Lockean view of self seems to be confirmed. Locke supposed self to be the continuity of consciousness, not related to a soul or a body.

From wikipedia:

John Locke considered personal identity (or the self) to be founded on consciousness (viz. Memory), and not on the substance of either the soul or the body. Chapter XXVII "On Identity and Diversity" in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) has been said to be one of the first modern conceptualization of consciousness as the repeated self-identification ofoneself. Through this identification, moral responsibility could be attributed to the subject and punishment and guilt could be justified, as critics such as Nietzsche would point out.

According to Locke, personal identity (the self) "depends on consciousness, not on substance" nor on the soul. We are the same person to the extent that we are conscious of our past and future thoughts and actions in the same way as we are conscious of our present thoughts and actions. If consciousness is this "thought" which "that goes along with the substance ... which makes the same person", then personal identity is only founded on the repeated act of consciousness: "This may show us wherein personal identity consists: not in the identity of substance, but... in the identity of consciousness". For example, one may claim to be a reincarnation of Plato, therefore having the same soul substance. However, one would be the same person as Plato only if one had the same consciousness of Plato's thoughts and actions that he himself did. Therefore, self-identity is not based on the soul. One soul may have various personalities.

We see this in Dune in the gholas. In Dune Messiah when Hayt regains the memories of Duncan Idaho, there is no thought of him being a pseudo Duncan or a quasi-Duncan. He is treated and considered by all to be the same person as the original Duncan Idaho. This is preserved through out the series, for example, when the Tlielaxu masters continue their lives through a continuous series of gholas. The gholas of each new master is considered to be the same as the master, despite being a different body.

Philosophy Question #1

By looking through the Canon Dune series, we find that Frank Herbert establishes definitive answers to some of philosophy's most long standing questions for the purpose of his fictional universe.

Mind Body Dualism

Canon Dune seems to reject any implication of a mind/body dualism. I state this because when it comes time for gholas to be made, any scrap of genetic material, whether a hair sample or a drop of blood, is enough to resurrect every thought and memory a person ever had. It stands then that all of the information of the mind is apparently contained in every cell of a person's body, explicitly rejecting any form of mind body dualism.

meh

It's gotten too depressing to list all the problems with the Expanded Dune series, so I'm going to stop that for now...

Criticism #11: Let's never speak of this again!

There's an episode of the Simpsons where we find that Principal Skinner is not in fact Seymour Skinner. He is a slacker who took over Skinner's identity after meeting him in Vietnam and thinking he died. At the end of the episode everyone decides that they like fake Skinner better and vow to "forget this ever happened." The Expanded Dune novels gave me the suspicion that this vow is part of a daily affirmation of House Atreides.

Numerous important life altering and person defining things happen in the Expanded Dune that are, of course, never mentioned in Canon Dune. Reading the books back to back, like I assume they are meant to be read, leads to a shocking discontinuity.

For example: Who knew that...

Leto had a previous son that died at a young age?

Was engaged to a woman that was assassinated when Paul was twelve?

And had a concubine before Jessica that killed herself?

These things wouldn't seem so bizarrely out of place, after all how often would they come up in conversation, except that the authors try to mention them as much as possible in the books that take place between the Canon Dune novels. So reading them through results in something like this:

House Atreides: Stuff

House Harkonnen: Stuff

House Corrino: Stuff

Dune: Stuff goes unmentioned

Paul of Dune: Talk about the stuff again!

Dune Messiah: Shh!! Forget about the stuff!

Winds of Dune: ...aaand now we can talk about it again.

Seriously, what the hell people?

Criticism #10: Those wacky Bene Gesserit!

The Bene Gesserit have breeding programs lasting thousands of years. They carefully cultivate talents and abilities and continue them down through generations. The Reverend Mothers have memories going back to the dawn of time, and can thus teach and learn any technique their ancestors either knew or even knew about. You know, except when they don't.

In Legends of Dune, the Sorceresses of Rossak have the ability to detonate their minds and fry the brains of nearby people. A useful ability for someone in an extreme situation. We later learn that the Sorceresses are the basis of the Bene Gesserit. And yet the Bene Gesserit never display this ability. It would have come in handy when they were being hunted by the Honored Matres!

In House Harkonnen, when the Baron and his entourage are on the surface of Wallach IX, all the Bene Gesserit there, from the lowliest acolyte to the highest Reverend Mothers, are able to seem invisible due to a mass hypnosis of the Baron and his soldiers. Invisibility! Another useful skill. I wonder why Jessica didn't teach it to the Fedaykin, since apparently children can engage in it? Or why, again, the Bene Gesserit didn't use to kick the crap out of the Honored Matres?

In Winds of Dune, we learn there are a group of Bene Gesserit called guilt casters, that can hypnotize people into a emotionally destroyed catatonic states. Again, this ability doesn't exist before this novel is written, and disappears from the Bene Gesserit arsenal the second the book ends.

Penny Arcade

Honesty Time

Criticism #9: Six=Three

A quote from Dune:

"We've known each other six years," she said. "It's long past time formalities should've been

dropped between us -- in private."

This is from a conversation between Dr. Yueh and Jessica. Paul is fifteen at the beginning of Dune. This means Yueh and Jessica met when Paul was nine.

In the novel House Harkonnen, after Rhombur Vernius is severely injured in a sabotage by Harkonnen agents Dr. Yueh comes to perform cybernetic work on him. Jessica is present at Castle Caladan during this. Did they meet? We're not sure. This was before Paul was born, so 15 or so years ago from the time of Dune.

Later, in Winds of Dune, after Rhombur Vernius dies in another assassination attempt, Dr. Yueh enters the service of House Atreides permanently. This was when Paul was twelve, three years before the novel Dune.

Which means that somehow Dr. Yueh and Jessica have known each other for some time before Yueh joins House Atreides? How? Jessica lives with the Duke on Caladan. Another lazy continuity error? Seems so.