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 |  Subject: Scientists Ask: Is There Life After Death?  Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:23 am | |
| Scientists Ask: Is There Life After Death? Published about 4 hours ago by Cris Putnam  To decide for yourself, all you need is to ask yourself, “Am I my brain?” Naturalism says yes but cannot respond to this challenge. The law of identity means that if a=b then everything true of a is true of b. If even one thing is true of a that is not true of b (or vice versa) then a and b are not the same thing. Moreland writes: - Quote :
- Physicalists must not only show that mental and brain phenomena are inseparable to make their case. They must also show that they are identical. – Moreland. Scaling the Secular City (Kindle Locations 1025-1026).
Mental things include our emotions, our sense of self, and the redness of red. Brain states are wet neurological processes and biology explainable in terms of science. Moreland argues they cannot be identical since they have different qualities: - Quote :
- The difficulty for physicalism is that mental events do not seem to have properties that hold for physical events. My thought of Kansas City is not ten centimeters long, it does not weigh anything, it is not located anywhere (it is not two inches from my left ear). Nor is it identical to any behavior or tendency to behave in a certain way (shouting “Kansas City” when I hear the name George Brett). But the brain event associated with this thought may be located inside my head, it may have a certain chemical composition and electrical current, and so forth. -Moreland. Scaling the Secular City, (Kindle Locations 1028-1031).
This suggests Cartesian substance dualism (body and soul) is true and physicalism is false. Even so, there are some interesting theories being tested about how it might work.
Is There Life After Death?(2011) by costello74 - Quote :
- Does The Soul Exist? Evidence Says ‘Yes’
By Robert Lanza, MD
The reality of the soul is among the most important questions of life. Although religions go on and on about its existence, how do we know if souls really exist? A string of new scientific experiments helps answer this ancient spiritual question.
The idea of the soul is bound up with the idea of a future life and our belief in a continued existence after death. It’s said to be the ultimate animating principle by which we think and feel, but isn’t dependent on the body. Many infer its existence without scientific analysis or reflection. Indeed, the mysteries of birth and death, the play of consciousness during dreams (or after a few martinis), and even the commonest mental operations – such as imagination and memory – suggest the existence of a vital life force – an élan vital – that exists independent of the body.
Do You Believe?
Yet, the current scientific paradigm doesn’t recognize this spiritual dimension of life. We’re told we’re just the activity of carbon and some proteins; we live awhile and die. And the universe? It too has no meaning. It has all been worked out in the equations – no need for a soul. But biocentrism – a new ‘theory of everything’ – challenges this traditional, materialistic model of reality. In all directions, this outdated paradigm leads to insoluble enigmas, to ideas that are ultimately irrational. But knowledge is the prelude to wisdom, and soon our worldview will catch up with the facts.
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