Pleasure and Joy

[genkaus]

A couple advantages of dualism are as follows:

Dualism does not conflate neuroscience with materialism. One is a science, the other is a philosophy.

Physical phenomena, in themselves, have no inherent meaning. Dualism provides a place, absent in materialism, for irreducible qualities like qualia and intentionality.

Unlike materialism, dualism affirms that the subjective contents of mental states have explanatory relevance while avoiding both epiphenomenalism and over-determination. This allows natural selection to reward rationality.

How is any of this an advantage?

Existence of a logical and rational view of reality requires that there be no conflict between science and philosophy. What you call conflation is in fact consistency.

Qualities like qualia and intentionality do not need to be irreducible for physical phenomena to have objective (not inherent) meaning. There is a place for them within materialism, just not a place that regards them as irreducible. And the meaning and value assigned to physical phenomena by a consciousness is not diminished by consciousness itself being a physical phenomenon.

Unlike materialism, the affirmation of subjective contents of mental states given within dualism itself relies on inexplicable and unprovable premises. Whereas materialism affirms the explanatory relevance of subjective states while satisfactorily explaining the states themselves.