Is The Mind Material Or Immaterial?

I will argue that the mind is immaterial based on lots of arguments. I have discussed evidence before for dualism.

First by the introspection argument

The Argument from Introspection

"A more universal consideration is the argument from introspection. The fact is, when you center your attention on the contents of your consciousness, you do not clearly apprehend a neural network pulsing with electrochemical activity: you apprehend a flux of thoughts, sensations, desires, and emotions. It seems that mental states and properties, as revealed in introspection, could hardly be more different from physical states and properties if they tried. The verdict of introspection, therefore, seems strongly on the side of some form of dualism"

Another argument for dualism is the premise that we have privileged access to our mental states.


the premise that you have a special ways of knowing about your own mental states. This knowledge is not usually based on any evidence or observation. You can just tell that you're thinking about elephants. You don't have to infer it from any evidence. But other people do have to infer what you're thinking, from your behavior and from what you say. So you're in a better position to know what you're thinking than they are. You have a kind of special or privileged access to your mental states which other people lack.

You don't have any privileged access of that sort to your height or weight or shoe size. In principle, other people could be in a better position to know your height than you are.

Most philosophers will agree that we do have some kind of privileged access to our own mental states, even if it is difficult to spell that claim out in detail.

But some philosophers go further and argue that the only way we can explain or account for this privileged access is if facts about your mind are facts about what's happening in some private non-physical realm. Physical objects and their physical properties, on the other hand, are all publicly accessible. Other people can know more about your height, and your weight, and the physical state of your brain, than you know. So if your mental states were just physical states of some sort, like neurophysiological states of your brain, then that would make your mental states all publicly accessible.


Other arguments for dualism are discussed here by philosopher Edward Feser

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2008/10/some-brief-arguments-for-dualism-part.html

Things I Got This Christmas

5 Disc entertainment system
Cranium Game Board
Creative Mp3/WWA player 1gb holds 500 songs with lyric display
Nintendo Gamecube system
3 games TMNT, Lord of the rings, G cube-x3 game
Axe set
T shirt
Pants
Lots of body wash, deorderate, tooth brush, toothpaste, blistex creme
Pack of lotto tickets
Poster
Lifesavers
Sweater

Happy Holidays And A Happy New Year!

I like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and an Happy New Year!.

Why It's Very Difficult To Do An Near Death Experiment

Why? you may ask here's why


The fact is if I was out of body experience too, I would be a lot more concern about my lifeless body down below and seeing possible dead relatives then seeing a sign up above. Their is a major problem for these nde experiments, and also if someone who was out of body did claim to see a sign above then the skeptics would say maybe they were peaking at it before they went unconsciousness. Look at the shoe on the ledge case of a woman claiming to see a shoe outside the building. But still the sceptics, say well maybe she looked out the window. Even if she did it still wouldn't, explain how she was able to describe how the shoelace was tugged into the toe of the shoe.

So I wouldn't be surprise if this new study done on near death experiences and out of body experiences done by Sam Parnia and others. Which you can find here. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910090829.htm.

That it produces negative results. But of course it may not but the likely heard is most of near death experiencers probably are more concerned about their lifeless body and seeing dead relatives then about a trival thing like a sign. I could be wrong. We will see.

Wwe Armageddon Pay Per View Results

1. Dark Match: The Miz and John Morrison defeated Jesse and Festus.
2. Vladmir Kozlov defeated Ecw champion Matt Hardy in a non title match
3. Cm Punk defeated Rey Mysterio in an Intercontinental Championshop finals match.
4. Finlay defeated Mark Henry in an belfast brawl match.
5. Later in the night Hbk comes out explaining why he's with Jbl.
6. Batista defeated Randy Orton.
7. Santa's little helper match: Maria, Kelly Kelly, Mickie James and Michelle Mccool defeated Jillian Hall, Victoria, Maryse and Natayla Neidhart.
8. John Cena Wwe champion defeated Chris Jericho
9. Triple Threat Match Edge Jeff Hardy defeated Edge and Triple H to become new Wwe champion.

Ghostly Facts

Ghosts want to be noticed.

Ghosts have no sense of passing time.

Often, they do not know that they are dead.

Sometimes they exist in a state of confusion, perhaps like being stuck in a dream.

Ghosts can smell things and love the smell of lemons.

Ghosts have a sense of humor and love to hear humans laugh.

Sometimes ghosts get bored with their surroundings

Most ghosts are happy, but some still cling to an emotional pain.

They can appear to the living in dreams.

They can leave behind certain scents, such as perfume.

They can make sounds that are audible.

They use their energies and ours to move things.

They are pranksters.

They usually appear as intense balls of light called orbs that are neon blue or violet.

Ghosts favor night due to the decrease in daytime energy use.

Ghosts may appear as mists or vapors.



A hooded black smoky figure is a dark entity and you should be careful around them. They usually appear at the foot of beds.

Some alleged hauntings are actually a "residue," which is a past event that replays itself over and over.

Certain places are portals or vortexes where ghosts transport themselves.

Hauntings are most intense around children entering puberty, as kids this age are emitting immense amounts of energy.

Ghosts can read your thoughts.

Ghosts retain all the memories and emotions of their lives.

Sometimes ghosts are trapped and need to be released. Let them know they can move on.

Noisy, troublesome ghosts are known as poltergeists.

Ghosts tend to be very temperamental.

If a spirit was a jerk while living, they will probably still be a jerk while a ghost.

Ghosts hang out in cliques with other ghosts.

Ghosts make friends with other ghosts from different eras.

If you hear a strange whisper in your ear when sleeping, it is probably a ghost.

Ghosts do not sleep.

Ghosts like to climb up and down stairs at night.

Most ghosts can't or won't hurt you.

Animals can see or sense spirits, that's why you often see them just staring intensely at what appears to be nothing.

If you are being haunted, if you simply ask them to leave, they will. Say something like "I know you are here but you are scaring me please leave."

When a ghost enters a room, the room usually gets cold.

Animal ghosts exist and have been sighted.

Ghosts who lived hundreds of years ago keep up with the trends.

Children perceive ghosts as imaginary friends.

New Scientist Article Called Creationists Declare War On The Brain

The Whole article is one bad piece. Why? Well first anyone who disagrees with the mainsteam science view that mind is produce by the brain are classified as creationists. Also it also puts intelligent design in the same way of thinking as creationism. But creationism is different then intelligent design. How? Well creationism relies on a bible as it's evidence. Where intelligent design relies on two facts that no scientist's denies.

1] Biological animals are intelligent
2] Their is design in evolution

Now biologists say they admit both of those things. But it's like biologists who are devoted to naturalism appear not very happy that those two things are facts. Also it's true that a lot of christians have used intelligent design to get their case across. I personally don't like that christians have hijacked intelligent design.

Here's what Patricia Churchland says in the article

Patricia Churchland, a philosopher of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, "it is an argument from ignorance. The fact something isn't currently explained doesn't mean it will never be explained or that we need to completely change not only our neuroscience but our physics."

But that's not what dualists are saying. Postulating that mind is seperate from the brain, that the brain is a filter of consciousness is an alternative that should be taken seriously.

Here's another piece from the article.

Schwartz and others argue that since the mind can change the brain, the mind must be something other than the brain, something non-material. In fact, these experiments are entirely consistent with mainstream neurology - the material brain is changing the material brain.

Consistent?. True it's consistent if you preconceive that the brain is doing the changing itself without a soul.

The deathblow to materialism is the fact that we have an inner life. How do emergent systems give rise to an inner life?. Of course they don't. Also their's another way out for materialism by positioning epiphenomenalism. The big problem with this is we know we have conscious experiences but it says consciousness is an illusion.