Consciousness: Egnor on dualism: another example (General)

by David Turell , Monday, August 06, 2018, 15:24 (2299 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Once again you miss the point you've made: You are your soul, and if you in life use your brain to think, so does your soul. And then certainly a sick brain will produce sick thoughts for both you and your soul. The case you make for materialism simply recognizes that the brain is material. Dualism looks at the source of the immaterial output from the brain.

dhw: Yet again you are conflating the two issues. I am not making a case for materialism. I am pointing out that if the brain is the source of thought (as in “a sick brain produces sick thoughts”), you have materialism. You have even confirmed this with your extraordinary last statement: if the immaterial output from the brain is thought, then the brain is the source of thought! And if the brain produces thought, you have materialism. I don’t know what you mean by “dualism looks at…” Dualism claims that the self consists of soul and brain, instead of just brain. If the brain produces thought, what does the soul do? Look at the thoughts the brain has produced?

All you are stating is there is a material part to the dualism problem. Simple progression of fact: Please remember you are your soul. You think with your brain and consciously recognize the thought. So if there is a soul what did it do? It was your essence doing it also, not separate, but your quantum image providing the consciousness.