(October 28, 2013 at 4:15 pm)Chas Wrote: The neurological evidence to date is sufficient for me to reject dualism.Indeed. I have never studied philosophy, and it seems weird to feel the need to slide by the data. These experiments have been done- over and over. Damage a brain so that there is no ability to think or sense, but leave the medulla and brainstem intact. A person can have a living body with absolutely no experience of essential personhood- no subjective consciousness. If you've ever known someone in the end stages of Alzheimer's disease, you know that they are empty shells- bodies with no awareness, no person, inside. It is also extremely easy to alter human perception and experience with drugs.
This would strongly suggest that the physical properties of the brain are entirely responsible for qualia (if I understand that term correctly as human awareness and sentience).
It's also REALLY obvious to me that many animals experience qualia of their own, and I don't know if any religious sects acknowledge a mind-body problem in animals. Do they?
