[asa] Re: [asa] Dualism and the thing that makes volitional me łme˛

1. It's a great mystery.
2. The one thing I'm certain of -- as Decartes wrote -- is that I exist.
3. I assume I'm not being fooled by a demon. I could be wrong on this,
of course, but the probability seems vanishingly small
4. The one sense data I can be certain of is that I have -- within
constraints -- free will. I can post this -- or not. My choice.

That said, I surmise that my actions are not the result of "particle
to particle" causality, Something else is necessarily involved. In one
sense, I am "supernatural."

I guess that makes me a dualist. I have no clue as to what kind,
substance, property or predicate. Probably something else.

Best

Burgy

On 4/22/09, FredHeeren <fred@day-star.org> wrote:
> I imagine that this has been hashed and re-hashed before, but Iąm keen to
> know: What position do most Christians in science these days take on
> mind-body dualism? Are Christians all over the board?
>
> If Cartesian, substance dualism fails because Descartes has to try to
> explain which place in the brain interacts with the non-physical world, are
> property dualism or predicate dualism the only alternatives for dualists?
> Do proponents of those believe that the spirit simply emerges from the
> functions of the brain (and if so, is there still something that makes
> volitional łme˛ really ... łme,˛ to make decisions beyond the dictates of my
> brainąs genetics/environment)?
>
> How do Christian monists reconcile the supernatural elements of their faith
> with monism? I can presuppose that thereąs an unknown (to me) monistic
> answer to the mind-body problem (of what causes the decisions), but that
> would only solve the mind-body problem - - there still needs to be a second
> realm for eternity. I can see how we material beings might gain access to a
> more permanent world of ideas and forms, in a seeing-through-a-glass-darkly
> sort of way, in this life. But is it possible to believe in a mind that
> emerges from a functioning human brain as having nothing particularly
> supernatural about it until the day that God resurrects us?
>
> Grace & peace,
> Fred Heeren
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Burgy
www.burgy.50megs.com
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