(April 5, 2012 at 7:11 pm)Stimbo Wrote:(April 5, 2012 at 5:06 pm)Adjusted Sanity Wrote:(April 5, 2012 at 5:02 pm)mediamogul Wrote:(April 5, 2012 at 4:56 pm)Adjusted Sanity Wrote: What if your memories go with the consciousness and remain dormant until a certain point where your cycle of reincarnation ends? There's a thought.
I have literally seen a persons memory dissappear through traumatic brain injury. Their personality changed. They were completely different. All those functions are utterly dependant upon brain function. That was my previous point. I just don't see it. Consciousness contains no information.
That's horrible. A more minor version happened to my mom when she was young. Accident changed her a lot apparently. I can see that point.
But the consciousness and soul could be considered backup. Might not be completely connected to the mind.
Then there's the incredible case of Phineas Gage.
(April 5, 2012 at 6:36 pm)Adjusted Sanity Wrote: Also my statement is true. You can be an atheist by definition and still believe in a soul. Athiest has a definition. If the definition of athiest was someone who does not believe in unproven phenomena then your statement would be true.
Right. What you're describing would more correctly be scepticism (or skepticism if you really must ) of which atheism is a specialised branch.
Stimbo that link sent me nowhere.
Also it is a correct proposition to state that atheists do not neccessarily disbelieve in souls. Atheism solely denotes lack of belief in deities. I will say that atheists tend to be materialists in the sense that they disbelieve in anything but material causes for phenomena. Mind/soul to a materialist is a pure function of the brain's physical functioning.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." -Friedrich Nietzsche
"All thinking men are atheists." -Ernest Hemmingway
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire
"All thinking men are atheists." -Ernest Hemmingway
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire