(January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm)Esquilax Wrote: I and the others here already have purposes they have self-determined, and meaning in their lives that is individual, yet still present. Therefore, physical processes are sufficient for meaning and purpose.And your fallacy is... begging the question!
(January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm)Esquilax Wrote: I don't think you're going to be able to do that [prove that souls exist], which leaves us with... physical processes, that are readily demonstrable to everyone.I made no mention of souls and I don’t need to. What is demonstrable is that mental properties, by virtue of their intentionality, are distinct from physical states. Physical reduction is only one among many possibilities. Others include panpsychism, phenomenalism, and property dualism. Your belief that physical and/or material processes must be the default position is ideological, not informed.
(January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm)Esquilax Wrote: I have meaning and purpose and the only demonstrable parts of me... are the physical processes that compose us.Except you seem incapable of actually showing how one reduces to the other.
Remember what I said earlier about not covering for one assertion with a second assertion? Your entire position is based on doing exactly that.
(January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm)Esquilax Wrote: Christian apologetics are terribly predictable.Atheistic dismissals are usually based on ignorance and/or lies.
(January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm)Esquilax Wrote: .... wouldn't you then be implying that human beings are artifacts, given that your position hinges on the idea that their purpose is externally derived?Human beings are not artifacts. Nor are they biological robots. Humans are the material instantiations of an essential form and each acts toward his or her potential.
