Different in degree or kind: EVOLUTION (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, January 04, 2015, 21:09 (3397 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: As a substance dualist, you believe that there is some separate form of energy which controls our use of information, and this is what you mean by “soul”. Can you think of any reason why even the simplest organism should not have the same form of control, i.e. through some separate form of energy? (Obviously, this ties in with my question concerning gradations of consciousness/soul.)-DAVID: My thoughts go only so far as accepting that the brain is a receiver of consciousness and soul, and when I think if the soul leaving the body, as in death, I conceive of it as a bundle of my own consciousness joining the universal consciousness. Therefore, there must be a brain for an organism to have a soul. Simply, the soul is a piece of universal consciousness.-I'm still pursuing the question of gradations, so for the moment let's forget about survival after death. I'm focusing on the evolutionary implications of your beliefs. Assuming that the “soul” is the form of energy that transmits its messages to the brain, do you believe that when ants / rats / crows / chimpanzees take decisions, devise strategies, solve problems etc. it is also their “souls” that send messages to their brains? And do you believe that the “soul” of, say, a chimpanzee is capable of a greater degree of decision-making, problem-solving etc. than an ant's?-I appreciate that you haven't thought this far. But since you claim that humans are different in kind from other animals, I don't think it's unreasonable for us to examine differences in general.