(March 31, 2012 at 2:50 pm)mediamogul Wrote: I feel as though I have seen this dualist myth reduced to an absurdity by my experience working with those who have serious mental illness and traumatic brain injuries. When you watch someone's personality change drastically as a result of either you realize how subordinate our "consciousness" is to brain function and how dependant upon brain function our personality and decision making abilities are. To claim that there is "spirit" or an essence of a person external to these physiological processes seems unfounded. This is the materialists argument, which I think is valid. Consciousness does not exist outside of brain function and personality is dependant upon the latter.
In short we don't fully understand why one person's consciousness is bound to their particular body as opposed to another but I will venture a guess that it has nothing to do with a "soul" or "spirit" inhabiting that body.
Any dualist might ask in cases of brain trauma - where did they go? Where is their personality or self or whatever? I agree with you that asking such questions makes no more sense than asking where we go after we die.
