Materialists Beginning to Respect Non-Materialists?
People on social(ist) media, regular media, and in print notice that misotheists often ridicule those of us who believe in immaterial things. A surprising number are inconsistent, believing in psychic matters, prayer, ghosts, and other things.
We have seen that atheists are also inconsistent about the mind or soul — many deny it exists, but still look for its location in the brain. Many of us know that the brain is not the mind, but the mind uses the brain. A neurosurgeon and an atheist had an interesting discussion on consciousness and other things.
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| Brain and consciousness, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (Geralt) |
The two Mikes. Dr. Michael Egnor is a neurosurgeon and believes that the mind is not simply physiological reactions, Dr. Michael Shermer is an atheist. It is very interesting that Egnor asked Shermer to offer an explanation for near-death experiences that contained verified details.
Also, Egnor pressed Shermer to explain immaterial things such as morality: How can an atheist justify getting angry at something immoral that happens? As Dr. Jason Lisle puts it, we are bundles of chemicals that are reacting, so an atheist has no basis for outrage when one bundle of chemicals rearranges another with extreme prejudice.
Interestingly, some of Dr. Egnor's remarks were very similar to the kind of thing used in Christian presuppositional apologetics. What was more surprising to me is reading such a thing in an Intelligent Design site, as those folks usually distance themselves from biblical creationism.
At New English Review, author Kenneth Francis talks about the episode of the Piers Morgan show last month which featured neurosurgeon Michael Egnor vs. professional skeptic Michael Shermer, discussing the topics raised in his new book The Immortal Mind:
If you've a mind to, read the rest at "From Science, New Respect for Non-Materialist Understandings of the Mind." You may also like "Never Mind the Brain."