The Soul

Therefore, and this is critical, strict physicalism cannot be established by showing that mental states and brain states are interdependent on, causally related, or constantly conjoined with each other in an embodied person. Physicalism needs identity to make its case, and if something is true, or possibly true of a mental substance, property, or e

According to strict physicalism, a human being is merely a physical entity.1 The only things that exist are physical substances, properties, and events. When it comes to humans, the physical substance is the material body, especially the parts called the brain and central nervous system. The physical substance called the brain has physical properti

For example, certain mirror neurons are activated in a chimpanzee’s brain when it reaches for food, and those same neurons are activated when the chimpanzee watches another animal reach for food. Scientists think that mirror neurons are the neurological bases for various conscious activities such as experiencing empathy, comprehending the actions o

In such a world, there could be mindless zombies with brains and nervous systems but without consciousness. This is what we mean when we say that the existence and nature of matter are independent of the existence of consciousness.

A second way that property dualists handle human action is through a notion called *event-event causation.

This happiness has three important aspects. ... First, it is not the mere possession of pleasant sensations. You could have pleasant sensations, say, by taking drugs all day or by having people constantly lie to you about how wonderful and intelligent you are. ... Second, such a happiness can only be possessed if you do what you truly want to witho

The core of the modal argument for the soul is fairly simple: I am possibly disembodied (I could survive without my brain or body); my brain or body are not possibly disembodied (they could not survive without being physical); so I am not my brain or body. I am either a soul or a brain or a body, so I am a soul.

In addition, there is the transfiguration passage (cf. Matt. 17:1–13) in which Elijah (who never died) and Moses (who had died) appear with Jesus. The most natural way to interpret this text is to understand that Moses and Elijah have continued to exist—Moses was not re-created for this one event—and have been made temporarily visible.

The text refers to deceased but existent human beings in the heavenly Jerusalem as “the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” “Spirits” is used to refer to human beings in either the intermediate state or after the final resurrection.