Why dualism?
- Thread starter Minoosh
- Start date
Please define the functional difference between a non-biological consciousness and a soul.
I refuse to let this devolve into meaningless semantics. If you're arguing that there is a non-biological aspect to the human mind you're arguing for a soul and I will treat the argument as such.
If you watched the video debate with Eben Alexander & Raymond Moody, which we have been discussing for the past few pages, then you will be left in no doubt that they are presenting out-of-body conciousness as proof of a Christian God claim!
So, what is your position on that? What sort of beliefs (if any) do you have about so-called "spiritual matters", or what people might less kindly call "woo"? What's your posting history on issues like that? Seriously, I have no idea what sort of beliefs you normally support ... I've never looked at your posts.
Do I automatically reject all such ideas? Well I do if they are not supported by any genuine independent objective scientifically valid evidence. And out-of-body concious spirits are certainly not supported by any such genuine evidence.
The dominant paradigm is that brain = consciousness, of course being the dominant paradigm alone is not reason enough to believe it.
Also, it is certainly true that there is at least a strong connection between the brain and the human experience. We can poke and prod specific regions of the brain and alter the contents of the mind - and comparatively, I can walk into a different room and see a different bunch of stuff.
So the brain has something to do with preparing the contents of the mind.
Would you agree with the above?
Also, it is certainly true that there is at least a strong connection between the brain and the human experience. We can poke and prod specific regions of the brain and alter the contents of the mind - and comparatively, I can walk into a different room and see a different bunch of stuff.
So the brain has something to do with preparing the contents of the mind.
Would you agree with the above?
A "mind" is simply what we do just like running. It's a description of a behaviour, nothing more and nothing less which is why we can't point to something and say "there is the mind", just like we can't point at someone running and say "there is the run".
Which is where dualism comes in. Noun and action, substance and concept. It's a very natural way to divvy up the world.
No you can't. What you can say is "there is a person running".
It is what I said - it is what a body does.
Eating lunch now - the taking a bite, chewing, tasting the food and so on - is a different experience than planning what I will have for lunch tomorrow. And it seems like a very fundamental difference. So even if thinking about stuff is just my material brain playing a trick on me, it's still worth splitting up the world into these two types of things - the actual and the conceptual.
That's a form of dualism I can accept.
That's a form of dualism I can accept.
No, I can also say "there is running"
This is an interesting side-effect of brain=consciousness (Materialism) That which we know and can verify - consciousness - does not exist except as a behavior; while matter, which we can never know or verify exists, is called real.
Re-read my post, it is not "there is running" it is that you cannot say "there is the run".
Absolutely and our language's innate dualism is one of the major issues we face when discussing this issue.
Consciousness is not a thing or a behavior. It's a process.
When you blow a candle out you don't have a crisis of faith over where the fire went. When you stop running you don't have a crisis of faith over where the running went.
When you park you car you don't have a crisis of faith over where the driving went.
When you blow a candle out you don't have a crisis of faith over where the fire went. When you stop running you don't have a crisis of faith over where the running went.
When you park you car you don't have a crisis of faith over where the driving went.
Yep. A distinction as old as Plato's "forms."
It just depends on the process we are talking about. I worry about where the equity in my house went. Trump worries about where his popularity went, and James Randi probably worries where his health went.
I don't understand where "crisis of faith" comes into it though. Maybe when I wonder about where the value of my gold went and lose faith in Glenn Beck's financial advice?
These are processes - I get that.
Is it your experience that consciousness is a process?
No it's an objective fact.