Consciousness: Egnor on dualism: another example (General)

by David Turell , Monday, September 03, 2018, 15:29 (2271 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: It is obvious the words I learn from birth are in a memory portion of the brain represented by electrical activity. When I think I find those words in the brain. When my soul thinks during life where do the words come from to be used? Does the soul rely on the memories in the brain or have its own memory bank?

dhw: You are asking a question that illustrates the dichotomy between materialism and dualism which you refuse to recognize. Those who believe in an afterlife tell us that the surviving soul DOES have its own memory bank, together with all the other immaterial facets of our identity. Materialists say all these facets have their source in materials, and they die when the materials die. You are trying to reconcile the two theories with a translation theory that is totally illogical for reasons which I keep explaining and which you keep ignoring. (See below) (David’s bold)

DAVID: The bold tells me that your opinions on the theory of soul are based on the opinion of others. You have simply followed along. I am presenting my own theory of the soul and its mechanisms, based on what the material side reveals in studies.

dhw: Not the opinions – the experiences! All of a sudden you are discounting NDEs, which until now you have quoted again and again as evidence that there is such a thing a soul that survives the death of the brain! Your theory ignores the evidence you keep quoting, and presents us with the absurdity of an English-speaking soul which cannot understand its own thoughts until it translates them into English.

NDE's not ignored. The soul when it leaves the body changes so it can operate without any dependence on the living brain which while living, you have admitted a dependence exists. Where we disagree is on the degree of dependence. You accept information and expression, but not thought. I accept thought in addition. Since I accept that I/soul are one and in life must use the brain, my soul is always using the brain as I know I do. I/soul as one think with my brain's actions.

dhw: However, if you think this is logical, we shall indeed have to move on.

DAVID: Yes, move on. You simply don't accept my view in how the soul might solve the problem of consciousness. It is certainly OK to disagree.

dhw: Of course the soul (if it exists) solves the problem of consciousness! According to you it is a piece of your God's consciousness, and consciousness has to be conscious! It doesn't have to translate its own thoughts into its own language before it knows what it is thinking about.

Again separating your soul in life from your living brain. I'm sure, ignoring solipsism, you think with your brain's functions and drag along your 'possible' soul in the process. All the while, the thoughts are created in electric waves which require translation to be heard as words in our heads. And yes, we agree the soul solves the problem of consciousness. Your version of your soul is not my version of my soul in how a soul functions.

At birth I could not think. I had to develop my physical brain and learn to think. What was the infant soul capable of in thought process at that point in life? In your version of soul please tell me.