From the author: Continuing reflections on philosophy and psychology as we go through our lives. They say that truth is born in dispute. This time the debate was still more philosophical, albeit based on a very everyday, real-life example. An example of pierced ears. Hello, our [fickle yet] readers. We are psychologist Sergei and philosopher Ekaterina. We have already written together in this article. Today we have a psychological and philosophical debate. What is the point of piercing, painting, nose job (for example) or other changes to your body? This is usually explained by lack of acceptance of your body, low self-esteem, constant striving for perfection... But is that the only reason? While Seryozha was looking for the psychological roots of this act: rebellion, or even proof of his freedom (I want and can change my body).... ...Katya approached the question deeper. Katya: Rene Descartes, as you know, identified 2 substances: 1) thinking and 2) extended. Thinking substance is in no way connected with corporeality, and therefore is not determined by anything other than the free will of my thinking self. Extended substance, of which our body is an example, is not free, subject to a series of cause-and-effect relationships, physical and mathematical laws operating in the world .All that is allowed to my will in relation to an extended thing (body) is only to determine the direction of movement, but not its quality. Seryozha: Yeah... that is, I can go to the beach to sunbathe, but I can’t choose in advance what color the skin will become - this is a physical process determined by the structure of the epithelium and its reaction to ultraviolet radiation. Katya: Yes! Thus, Descartes brings us to a thought that for a long time managed to take root in the consciousness of European people: thinking is the personification of freedom, perhaps comparable even to divine freedom; extension (body) is a slave to the infinite cause-and-effect series. Immanuel Kant, in his desire to rethink this division introduced by Descartes, to some extent remains faithful to the idea of ​​​​the existence of two orders of reality. He already distinguishes 1) phenomena and 2) things in themselves. In the dimension of phenomena, our guidelines are the forms of sensuality inherent to us, but not to the objective world: time and space. Katya could no longer be stopped... neither by time nor by space: In this sphere we are located, as beings with a body. Our life here is determined, as has already been said, by space and time, and therefore, here we are finite, mortal. Our existence, like Descartes’s, is inscribed in a series of causes, among which our will has almost no place. As for the dimension of things in themselves, here we are free. For Kant, this sphere of morality and ethics, our Self, is no longer determined by either space or time. It recognizes itself as a goal in itself. Based on this order, which nevertheless turns out to be accessible to humans, it can be argued that the spirit is immortal (time simply does not exist for it). Tattoos from the Internet. Translation: I think, therefore I am. R. Descartes. It turns out that I intuitively feel the greatness of my spirit in its ability to rise above the finitude of my existence. Seryozha: That is, at the level of the spirit, I am much more powerful than my body. I understand! This moment when a soldier in war sacrifices himself (in captivity he remains silent during interrogation under brutal torture) in order to save his colleagues or, moreover, his Motherland. The spirit becomes more important than the body - outside of time and space, it realizes its “immortality.” Katya: This is very Fichtean. However, with some amendments Kant could also say so. Seryozha: It seems that I am beginning to understand. When there is no war, I look for other ways to bring the body closer to the spirit. Make it at least a little freer! Extend the power of the spirit to the body! Katya: This conflict, which was schematically outlined here using the example of clear thinkers, is found everywhere in philosophical systems. And in our dialogue we dug around it. Let's now go down from things in themselves to phenomena (that is, from heaven to earth) and talk again about piercings and tattoos :) In chorus: :)