My theory of consciousness is based on materialism. I submit that we cannot understand consciousness while believing in any sort of 'immaterial' or 'spiritual' realm. All that exists is matter, it is all that has ever existed or been described by science or philosophy. The 'spirit' realm or an actual entity such as a soul has never been proven or observed.
It would be perfectly rational to maintain materialism on the grounds that no one has ever presented any evidence of any other kind of existence or type of entity. However we can be sure that the immaterial doesn't exist for the same reason that we can know God doesn't exist: It is a concept that defines itself out of existence.
Spirit - the spirit realm, the soul, ghosts, God, whatever that is immaterial - is only defined in terms of negatives. No theologian or philosopher has yet to tell us what spirit is, only what it isn't. To paraphrase George H. Smith in 'Atheism: the Case Against God', without a definition of a concept we literally don't know what we're talking about. We cannot even claim to not believe in the immaterial - in the same way that we can claim to be skeptical of elves - because we don't know what the idea refers to in reality.
The other reason we have to believe that materialism is true, in a more specific case, is that we have a similar problem with 'the soul'. The soul supposedly exists outside of your body, it persists after your physical body dies. But what is your soul? It must be assumed that it is your mind, your awareness. The idea is that you can be aware, conscious, without your body. What else can the idea of a soul mean? What significance would a thing that does not include our consciousness, our experience of reality, have for us? If our 'soul' goes to hell to suffer for eternity, but we will not be aware of it, what do we care?
The soul is clearly a reference to the mind. The idea is that we will continue to be aware without our eyes, our skin, our ears, without any sensory input. We will also be able to think and feel without our brains. Have the believers in immaterialism ever explained to us how this is supposed happen?
We will not be able to explain consciousness so long as we entertain the idea of immaterial
entities. This will only get in the way of any understanding.
These are really bad arguments. They're so bad it's hard to know where to even begin critiquing them. You simply betray a gross ignorance of counterarguments to materialism, and instead you focus on crude theology as though that were the only opposition.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that some non-materialists are also atheists?
Well, you've said what consciousness is not. Now comes the harder part - explaining what consciousness is. Don't be discouraged by Lee Kelly's overly negative comment.
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