On Theism & Immaterial Minds
June 12, 2013 at 6:21 am
(This post was last modified: June 12, 2013 at 6:36 am by FallentoReason.)
For the purposes of this thread, I will assume materialism about the self to be false and substance dualism to be true. This means that I will be speaking of the mind as an immaterial thing that is intimately related to what we call our physical bodies. Under this view, I'll now move on to some things that we can conclude immediately by virtue of accepting the notion of an immaterial mind.
Animals have immaterial minds
If us humans display signs of consciousness by feeling pleasure and pain, being joyous or fearful and experiencing things through our senses, then surely it can be said that animals also display signs of consciousness. They too show these signs even if it seems to be to a lesser extent. As far as we can tell, they are closer to what we are than what a rock or water is. Therefore, it seems like animals also have a mind, and since materialism is false, their minds must also be immaterial like ours.
If animals don't have immaterial minds, then the only other conclusion is that they have material minds. That means that it would be a case of confirmation bias to say that our minds can't possibly be such that they are purely materialistic. An example would obviously be animals of this being possible.
The nature of the mind with respect to our bodies
We know that our minds are immaterial, but clearly our brains play a huge role in how our minds perform in this reality. If someone receives a serious blow to the head, they can lose consciousness. They could even wake up and have a different personality or be mentally impaired. These effects are known to be correlated with specific parts of the brain responsible for that particular mechanism; be it our rational thinking, ability to speak, ability to learn etc. therefore, it seems reasonable to think that the way in which our immaterial minds function is dictated by the content of our brains in this reality.
We also see a correlation between intelligence, psychology and varying abilities in animals and how developed their brains are. Therefore, their immaterial mind is only capable of so much in this reality depending on the body they are attached to, much the same as we are only capable of so much depending on the content of our brain.
From the two conclusions above, it seems like a case where every immaterial mind has the potential to be any sort of species in this reality. All it requires is that it be intimately connected to a specific sort of body, and thus that mind will live out its "life" on this earth as whatever species/body it's attached to. This brings me to a fatal conclusion about three concepts: a god, its intention for its creation and the events that follow after this "life".
If all sentient beings on this planet are simply immaterial minds that aren't different to one another when not incarnated into a body, then why is it that some of us got placed into a human body and others into bodies of animals who don't have culture and religion? Presumably, when animals die, there won't be a judgement by a god which will determine their residing place for eternity. For humans, those two things apply.
I'll leave you with an argument detailing this critical problem:
1) God is just
2) If (1) is true, then God created all immaterial minds equally
3) Immaterial minds have been incarnated and there now exists self-aware beings (humans) and non-self-aware beings (animals)
4) God will only judge humans
C) Therefore, a just God does not exist
We can go further and then conclude that immaterial minds weren't created by a god. Therefore, substance dualism is false and our consciousness is a product of our brain. More precisely, a combination of substance dualism and a personal god will produce a defeater for such a collection of beliefs.
Animals have immaterial minds
If us humans display signs of consciousness by feeling pleasure and pain, being joyous or fearful and experiencing things through our senses, then surely it can be said that animals also display signs of consciousness. They too show these signs even if it seems to be to a lesser extent. As far as we can tell, they are closer to what we are than what a rock or water is. Therefore, it seems like animals also have a mind, and since materialism is false, their minds must also be immaterial like ours.
If animals don't have immaterial minds, then the only other conclusion is that they have material minds. That means that it would be a case of confirmation bias to say that our minds can't possibly be such that they are purely materialistic. An example would obviously be animals of this being possible.
The nature of the mind with respect to our bodies
We know that our minds are immaterial, but clearly our brains play a huge role in how our minds perform in this reality. If someone receives a serious blow to the head, they can lose consciousness. They could even wake up and have a different personality or be mentally impaired. These effects are known to be correlated with specific parts of the brain responsible for that particular mechanism; be it our rational thinking, ability to speak, ability to learn etc. therefore, it seems reasonable to think that the way in which our immaterial minds function is dictated by the content of our brains in this reality.
We also see a correlation between intelligence, psychology and varying abilities in animals and how developed their brains are. Therefore, their immaterial mind is only capable of so much in this reality depending on the body they are attached to, much the same as we are only capable of so much depending on the content of our brain.
From the two conclusions above, it seems like a case where every immaterial mind has the potential to be any sort of species in this reality. All it requires is that it be intimately connected to a specific sort of body, and thus that mind will live out its "life" on this earth as whatever species/body it's attached to. This brings me to a fatal conclusion about three concepts: a god, its intention for its creation and the events that follow after this "life".
If all sentient beings on this planet are simply immaterial minds that aren't different to one another when not incarnated into a body, then why is it that some of us got placed into a human body and others into bodies of animals who don't have culture and religion? Presumably, when animals die, there won't be a judgement by a god which will determine their residing place for eternity. For humans, those two things apply.
I'll leave you with an argument detailing this critical problem:
1) God is just
2) If (1) is true, then God created all immaterial minds equally
3) Immaterial minds have been incarnated and there now exists self-aware beings (humans) and non-self-aware beings (animals)
4) God will only judge humans
C) Therefore, a just God does not exist
We can go further and then conclude that immaterial minds weren't created by a god. Therefore, substance dualism is false and our consciousness is a product of our brain. More precisely, a combination of substance dualism and a personal god will produce a defeater for such a collection of beliefs.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
