Dualism versus materialism (Identity)

by David Turell , Saturday, July 29, 2017, 14:32 (2673 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: I keep telling you the whole arrangement is seamless. It is an equal back and forth activity as I visualize it. I get to my consciousness through the activity of my brain. I formulate an action and through my consciousness I control my brain to do it.

dhw: Yes, you/your consciousness formulate an idea or the idea of an action and control your brain to do it. We agree. But you and your consciousness are one, and so I still don’t know what you mean by you/your consciousness “getting to” you/your consciousness through the brain. However, in the light of what follows, it probably doesn’t matter.

DAVID: The artifacts tell us what each brain size is capable of conceiving.

dhw: But according to you it is NOT the brain that does the conceiving. It is the “soul”/you/your consciousness/your self. That is the dichotomy in your thinking that you refuse to recognize. The artifacts tell us what the “soul” conceived, and what the brain size was capable of implementing.

DAVID: The artifacts tell us what a new sized brain can do.

Yes, yes, yes. What it can DO, which in your dualistic world is what your “soul” has conceived.

DAVID: A smaller brain does not know what it does not know.

dhw: According to your dualism it is the “soul” that invents and knows. The brain, whether smaller or larger, “knows” nothing of the new idea until it is told by the “soul”.

DAVID: Only a larger brain can conceive of newer ideas to invent.

dhw: The final contradiction. You have always argued that the “soul” conceives of ideas, but now you have turned full circle and it is the brain that conceives of ideas. You may be right. Welcome to the world of materialism.

Ended not just yet. The problem in your responses is that you refuse to recognize that when I use the word 'brain' I carry with it the full implication of my phrase 'brain/self/soul/consciousness' as a seamless arrangement in which a wet material brain uses a received consciousness much like software. I view each enlargement of the brain as if it were a better computer with newer and better software (consciousness). Therefore able to develop better concepts and create more. I've explained this over and over.