The Case for Dualism (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Saturday, October 23, 2010, 21:23 (5144 days ago) @ xeno6696

Matt continues to read Martin, and not for the first time I marvel at his endurance. This time the subject is dualism, which as I understand it means that mind and matter are two distinct things, i.e. the mind is not the brain.-(1)	For let us consider. It is true that there cannot be a notion of 'two' if there is not a notion of 'one.' But how can there be an idea of 'one,' if there is not an idea of 'two'? Surely 'one' as a notion exists only in opposition to 'two.'-We have to be very careful about criticizing ideas that have come to us second-hand, as it were, so I can only comment on what Matt has presented us with. The first three items are in this same vein ... an attempt to prove dualism mathematically, because as we all know, an idea of something is not the thing itself. The fourth item is at least a bit more to the point: "to know your own existence, you need an immediate duality: yourself and seeing yourself." This repeats as pseudo-philosophically-scientifically as it can something which again we all know ... namely, that we are conscious of ourselves. What it doesn't tell us is whether material produces consciousness or is used by consciousness, and that is what the whole question of dualism is about. We don't know, and playing games with one and two gets us precisely nowhere.