[asa] Re: [asa] Dualism and the thing that makes volitional me ³me²

From: William Hamilton <willeugenehamilton@gmail.com>
Date: Thu Apr 23 2009 - 18:43:18 EDT

This may be a bit off topic, but you gotta expect that from an
engineer. Some folks claim the brain is a computer. OK(with a few
caveats), but every computer I've ever seen has been constructed to be
used by a user. What is the user of the human brain computer? I claim
the user is the individual's mind (or spirit perhaps) and that the
user of the human brain computer has a supernatural component.

On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 4:24 PM, FredHeeren <fred@day-star.org> wrote:
> I imagine that this has been hashed and re-hashed before, but Iħm 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 ³me² really ... ³me,² to make decisions beyond the dictates of my
> brainħs genetics/environment)?
>
> How do Christian monists reconcile the supernatural elements of their faith
> with monism?  I can presuppose that thereħs 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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-- 
William E (Bill) Hamilton Jr., Ph.D.
Member American Scientific Affiliation
Austin, TX
248 821 8156
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Received on Thu Apr 23 18:44:09 2009

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