Mind-Body Dualism

Introduction

Throughout human history the concept that we are made up of a mind/soul and a body has been dominant. Traditionally, this has been called Mind-Body Dualism.  In this view, the mind/soul is non-material ("ghost in box" (supernatural) and the body is material (natural). The 17^th Century philosopher, mathematician and physicist Rene Descartes described this concept in depth, which is also called Cartesian Dualism because of such. The opposite concept to Dualism is that human beings are only natural and are without a supernatural part. This is called Monism.

The arguments for Dualism usually include use of the term “non-material substance” to explain the mind/soul. When this is defined, all answers essentially are as incoherent as the term “flooded desert”. Observation and experiments regarding brain injury reveal that virtual any parameter of the self can be lost if appropriate areas of the brain are injured or effected by disease. A recent study involving transcranial magnetic stimulation revealed the ability to control moral judgement.

From the naturalist worldview, which of these two concepts seems more in keeping with reality? This blogger’s concept of the mind/soul is that it probably is a verb, an action of the material brain.

Determinism vs Free Will

There is little doubt that we humans have a perception of choice in our daily lives. There exist situations in life where we make genuine, unforced choices, and that when we choose A, we feel that we could, even circumstances being similar, also have chosen B. Traditionally, we call this “Free Will”. The opposite concept is “Determinism”, where the universe is a natural, closed system with every effect (decision) having a cause.

The logic of a naturalistic worldview seems to make it impossible to reconcile free will with a deterministic universe. However, some supporters of free will use quantum mechanics to suggest that the universe is not deterministic but is uncertain, random and operates under statistical probabilities. This blogger fails to see how this understanding of quantum mechanics refutes the logic of the deterministic concept.

In the 1980’s, scientists began to study the relationship between the timing of the conscious decision to do something and brain activity (Libet’s experiment). This experiment showed that unconscious brain activity preceded the conscious awareness of making the decision by .5 seconds. Even though these results were used to support the deterministic concept of decision-making, they were criticized because of methodology issues. However, recently a refinement of the experiment was performed using a functional MRI. The results of this study revealed unconscious brain activity preceding conscious awareness of making the decision by 6 seconds.

In spite of logic and evidence to support determinism over free will, there is a thought with which this blogger agrees. For the benefit of society, it probably is better to accept the free will concept, with its feature of personal responsibility, on a practical basis (adding a cause for a better effect?). Support for this opinion may be found in contemplating how many people would act if they were not held accountable for their actions, as well as in the results of a recent experiment. This experiment showed that American students who were given information supporting determinism displayed more cheating activity over those students who were given information supporting free will.

How does punishment fit in with determinism? Perhaps the concept of "retribution" needs to be discarded, but punishment (cause) to attempt to change behavior (effect) and/or to protect society seems to be in order.

Yes, we feel that we have free will. Determinism is so counterintuitive. However, this blogger accepts the logic and evidence for determinism until evidence is presented that offers more support for free will. I have to be consistent with my worldview against mind/body dualism.

Consciousness

According to Wikipedia, consciousness is awareness and subjective experience.

Dan Dennett has stated that it is mysterious, emerges from the brain and is able to reflect on past thoughts. It is the winner in the unconscious fight within the brain. It is a private state but other may know more about some aspects of you than you know.

There is no evidence that the dualism concept is more applicable in this area that monism.

As was states above, this blogger will assume that consciousness is a natural product of brain function until evidence is presented that offers more support for consciousness being supernatural.

Summary

Inconsistent and erroneous perception is a fact of the human brain. The subject of mind-body dualism reveals how this reality can lead to probable false conclusions if you drift away from the principles of scientific inquiry.