Q&A: The Existence of Spiritual Properties
The Existence of Spiritual Properties
Question
In philosophy of mind there are several approaches of interactionist dualism. My question is: what is your view regarding the way spiritual mental states come into being? One can argue, for example, for emergentist dualism—that is, that mental properties are indeed spiritual, but that they are created because of complex relations among certain materials (for example, the materials of the brain), such that certain materials at a high enough level of complexity (that is, a complex interaction among those materials) will necessarily produce mental states. Another position says that the spiritual exists alongside the material and does not “emerge” from it. It also seems that such a position requires someone (a designer, for example God) to “insert” the soul into that body and connect them by a causal link.
It is impossible to deny the fact that the first creatures produced through biogenesis did not have a soul (and certainly not the inanimate objects that produced them), so it is reasonable to assume that spiritual mental states somehow “entered” a living being at some stage. The first position I presented claims that this happened because of the complexity of certain materials, while the second says that someone “placed” the soul into certain material compounds and not into others (and then the existence of mental states does not depend on complexity but on the decision of a god or something like that). One implication of these two positions is that the emergentist position would claim that if we precisely duplicate a brain, we duplicate the soul, whereas the second position would claim that it is not at all certain that the soul would be duplicated.
So after the explanation, I’ll repeat my question: does either of these positions reflect your view? And if not, what is your view regarding the formation of spiritual mental states? Also, what do you think about the implication—would duplicating a brain bring about a duplication of the soul?
Thanks!
Answer
I wrote here in the past that emergentism is an implausible speculation that for some reason is presented as a more rational and scientific option. I don’t believe in it.
I cannot deny something that is not a fact. I don’t know when a soul entered the evolutionary process. It entered at some point. If the world can be created at a certain time, then a soul can also enter it at some stage.
Discussion on Answer
“At some point”* and not “someone”
Since emergentism sounds absurd to me, it has to be an insertion in some way.
Okay. Do you think that this insertion is purely the result of choice—that there really is someone who decides what gets a soul and what doesn’t—or is it connected to the level of complexity of some physical system, or to some particular material (or maybe both—to a certain material from a certain level of complexity onward)?
If it is the Holy One, blessed be He, then He can do whatever He wants. I have no information.
So if I understood correctly—you are saying that whether there is a connection to the level of complexity of some particular material is unknown to you, and therefore maybe there is such a connection and maybe there isn’t. And if so, then the answer to “would duplication of a brain lead to duplication of a soul” is a question that you in fact do not know how to answer. Did I understand correctly?
And if so, then in practice, about any object whose actions resemble those of a human being, one could say that it has a soul (because there is no other indication besides behavior), whether the system operating it is complex or not (because God can “insert” a soul into whomever He wants whenever He wants, and it just so happens that until now He has done so in complex systems, but that is not necessary, and there is no answer to whether He does this only in complex systems or not).
Correct, but not for your reasons. Even if complexity is required, that does not mean that whenever there is complexity a soul will enter there. You are again implicitly assuming emergentism, which I do not accept.
The conclusion is of course absurd, even aside from what I answered here. It contains many mistakes, for example: 1. The fact that I have no external indication does not mean there is no difference. 2. Indications are not always by way of observation. There is a general and indirect impression. 3. If I do not know how to answer, that is not a positive claim. 4. God indeed can, but we can get the impression that He does not do that. And in general, I do not know who inserted it, or when, or how. 5. And of course the previous mistakes as well (even if it depends on complexity, that does not mean that every time there is complexity a soul will enter, so independence from complexity does not imply your conclusion here).
Right, that’s exactly what I wrote, that at some point the soul entered the body. My question is who is responsible for that? Is there some “law” that makes it happen automatically from a certain level of complexity, or does God or someone else decide who gets a soul and who doesn’t? Or of course some other option.