Free Will: Egnor shows neurological proof (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, December 17, 2020, 11:11 (1437 days ago) @ David Turell

PART TWO:

dhw: NDE evidence only suggests that the soul does the thinking in life, but it uses the brain to gather information and to give material expression to its thoughts. Otherwise, we would be unable to live in the material world. NDEs contradict the theory that the immaterial thinking soul is unable to think when the brain is sick or not functioning.

DAVID: Agreed. But are we clear that a sick but functioning brain distorts thoughts the soul tries to create as it uses the brain to think?

You are asking me to defend dualism against the materialist argument – which you have yourself inadvertently summarized quite perfectly: “sick brain can only produce sick thoughts”. The dualist’s brain does not produce thoughts. The dualist’s soul produces the thoughts. So the answer to your question is no. If the sick but functioning brain produces sick thoughts, just as "normal thinking can only come from a normal brain", there is no soul. The materialist case is supported by the fact that when the epileptic seizure is over, and the brain returns to normal, the patient's normal thinking patterns re-emerge. NDEs, however, suggest that there is a soul, because the patient is able to think normally when the brain is not functioning normally.