So "I" am not identical with my body and thus I must be non-material substance called the soul. — nixu
It is I think self-evident that we are not merely material beings. This is because of many reasons but mostly do to the fact that we actually have analytic proofs for the soul. for example: There are things that are true of me but are not true of my brain and body. So "I" am not identical with my body and thus I must be non-material substance called the soul. — nixu
Since our bodies are constantly changing, loosing parts and gaining new ones, our bodies and brains are not identical with the bodies and brains we had a week ago. — nixu
But these can be more simply explained as the body affecting the body or the brain playing with itself, if you will. — TheMadFool
Then why do we have a body AND a soul? If it is believed that we can interact with God and other souls when we are merely souls, then why do we need bodies? The band VETO, asks a very pointed question in one of their songs,It is I think self-evident that we are not merely material beings. This is because of many reasons but mostly do to the fact that we actually have analytic proofs for the soul. for example: There are things that are true of me but are not true of my brain and body. So "I" am not identical with my body and thus I must be non-material substance called the soul. — nixu
In other words, on a clear day, blue sky, you look up and lo!...there's the inside of your cranium in the upper atmosphere. Exactly. The physicalism of neuroscience and brain scans have gone way off the deep end in trying to make mind follow the brain, culminating in the most inane ideas I've ever heard: eliminative materialism, type physicalism, etc. If you're having a thought or feeling or intuition or mental imagery that can't be correlated with brain scans...guess what...it's like demon possession and you must be crazy. A very naive way of thinking; actually, I don't think there is any thought going into these interpretations of the mind body problem. What a shame to throw away what makes us human: metacognition: that is, not only thought, but thought about thought about thought, and so on — Anthony
1. We can say that my thoughts that 1+1=3 or all humans are white, are not true. My thoughts thus have a property of being right or wrong but it is not the case with my brain. My mental state (m) (e.g.1+1=3) at a given time (t1) is not identical with my brain function (b) at given time (t1). So m at t1 is not identical with b at t1. This is because it is illogical to say, for example, that my brain function is right or wrong nor is it the case that my thought of a book is oval shaped as is the electric charge in my brain while I think about a book. — nixu
2. "I" (ego, my consciousness/person) am not divisible kind of thing. All spatially extended objects can be divided in percents (I don´t mean that we would have the means to divide lets say fermions, but that they can be divided into percents) but I cannot be. I don´t know what it means to say that after a brain surgery (10% of my brains would have been removed) I would be 10% less a person. This seem quite the obvious. 1. So all spatially extended objects are divisible. 2. I am not divisible. 3. I am not spatially extended object. 4. My brain and body are spatially extended objects. 5. Therefore I am not my brain and body. — nixu
3. If it would be the case that I am identical with my brain and body I would not be the same thing through the course of time. It is pretty uncontroversial that if I have a pile of 10 bricks and I would take one brick away and change it to another the pile that I know have is not identical with the original pile. Since our bodies are constantly changing, loosing parts and gaining new ones, our bodies and brains are not identical with the bodies and brains we had a week ago. But if we are identical with our brain and body then we are not the same human beings we were in past. If we do not endure through one hour to another due to our metabolic processes many things becomes absurd. One example is that it is obviously stupid to require a payment of loan from a person who have not taken the loan. But this is what banks are doing if we are identical with our brain and body. — nixu
How do you survive in an environment without having some true knowledge of the environment? Is seems to me that your survival is the best catalyst for seeking and acquiring truth. Its no different than if God exists. You need to learn the truth in order to save your soul.For evolution "aims" to survival and not to produce true beliefs. — nixu
While I might agree with you that evolution does not produce true beliefs, I didn't see where Michael Ossipoff said otherwise. There was no mention of truth nor belief in his post, and evolution selecting for fitness rather than truth is a far better reason to trust one's cognitive faculties. No, I don't trust my intuitions to be truthful for this reason. That much I recognize, if that's what you mean. But recognizing the lies is more difficult than one might expect. You seem to be arguing for one of them.If your cognitive faculties are a result of evolution by natural selection and random genetic mutation you don´t have any reason to trust your cognitive faculties. For evolution "aims" to survival and not to produce true beliefs. — nixu
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.