Different in degree or kind: EVOLUTION (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 06, 2015, 17:42 (3609 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: We're back to the debate over degree or kind. You know my position. Animals have some problem solving ability. Ours is enormous. Analogy: Model T ford vs. Rolls Royce. Both are autos. That is, we come with an animal body but the brain is so far superior as to be different in kind. We've settled our positions before. I see nothing new.-We have never left the debate over degree and kind and its relevance to evolution - see the heading of this thread - and we've been moving step by step through your beliefs. These, in your own words, are that: 1) animals with brains have souls; 2) “our giant brain and consciousness were created by a special purposeful directed process separate from the evolution of our animal bodies” (my bold), and 3) the mind/soul and body/brain are separate, with the brain being “a receiver of consciousness and soul.” The obvious implication is that animals and humans have the same basic mechanism with which to do their thinking (soul transmitting to brain), but suddenly when the possible implications become clear to you, you run a mile: “It is your assumption that the soul transmits to the brain, not mine. I have no idea how it works. I'll stick with just brains.” You haven't stuck with just brains. Materialists stick with brains, but you are a substance dualist and posit a mind/soul independent of the brain, for our fellow animals as well as ourselves. -It is clear that whether you believe in a soul or not, animals and humans share the same mechanism for their modes of thinking, which inevitably leads to the question of just what you think your God created separately. If animal bodies evolved and human bodies evolved, why would the animal soul-brain mechanism evolve but the human soul-brain mechanism have to be separately created? -I didn't actually ask how it all works, but whenever I raise alternative hypotheses to your own, that is the sort of question you ask, as if not knowing invalidated the hypothesis in all cases but your own.
 
I like your analogy of Model T Ford and Rolls Royce. They are basically constructed the same way to perform the same functions, but one is vastly superior to the other. A space rocket would be different in kind.