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Author Topic:   A Question of the Heart
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 9 of 36 (402664)
05-29-2007 10:59 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Faithful Servant
05-28-2007 9:34 PM


Welcome to EvC, FS.
Well, I really can't add anything to what crashfrog has already posted, but my ego is far too big to pass this up.
It is true that so far we don't have a naturalistic explanation for human consciousness. However, not knowing the explanation is not the same as there not being an explanation at all. There have been many questions in science where we had to wait for the correct explanation. There are still many unanswered questions in science, but for many of these no one (not even creationists) doubt that we will eventually find the answer. I don't see why consciousness shouldn't be in this class.
Several examples come to mind. It was believed that the behavior of celestial objects were due to very different principles than the behavior of objects here on earth. But we now know that the same physical laws that explain phenomena here on earth also suffice to explain the phenomena we see in the sky.
Likewise, it was believed that life was due to very different principles than non-life. Again, we eventually learned that all the biochemical processes that add up to what we call "life" are just the result of ordinary matter acting according to the mundane laws of chemistry and physics.
In the same way, despite one's feeling that there must be something different about the human "soul", there is nothing to suggest that it cannot be explained in terms of neurobiology, even if we do not yet have an adequate theory.
In fact, there is plenty of reasons to think that it might just be the result of ordinary biology and chemistry. Injuries to the physical brain can result in severe changes in personality, as does the action of mundane chemical substances (so called narcotics). If this "consciousness" or "soul" has something to do with one's personality, with who a person really is, then it seems to be very deeply connected to the physical brain and its chemical workings. One is left wondering, in this case, what is there left for an immaterial, ineffable "something" to do in the way of providing an explanation.

Actually, if their god makes better pancakes, I'm totally switching sides. -- Charley the Australopithecine

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Faithful Servant, posted 05-28-2007 9:34 PM Faithful Servant has not replied

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 32 of 36 (402894)
05-30-2007 3:51 PM
Reply to: Message 16 by Faithful Servant
05-29-2007 10:07 PM


Hi, Faithful Servant. I hope you're enjoying the debating here.
Since we are getting deep into this here, I wanna pose a question to all those who want to debate what I'm saying here. What does science have to say about the law of cause and effect? From what I understand, nothing from nothing equals nothing. So, how could this universe come about without a cause? I've heard the big bang theory and all that, but it deviates from, rather than addresses the question. If, in the beginning,(there has to be a beginning because this universe contains energy that is slowly being depleted, eventually to nothing) there was NOTHING, where did ANYTHING come from?
This is off-topic for this thread (since the OP just concerns itself with human consciousness).
To help clarify a few things about Big Bang, though, here is a post I wrote long ago about the real meaning of the phrase Big Bang. That thread is closed now, so if you want to discuss this further you might want to carry the discussion to a related thread (which will be in Cosmology forum), or you can try to start a new topic.

Actually, if their god makes better pancakes, I'm totally switching sides. -- Charley the Australopithecine

This message is a reply to:
 Message 16 by Faithful Servant, posted 05-29-2007 10:07 PM Faithful Servant has not replied

  
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