Re: i'm not saying that all inexplained qualities are due to "soul"
Burr Send a noteboard - 14/09/2009 08:05:41 PM
It's an empty placeholder for an explanation. Science at least provides a partial explanation of the unknown by describing the boundaries of what we know. If you say the soul is whatever human qualities haven't yet been discovered by science, then the soul theory is falsified every time a scientific discovery about humanity is made.
I'm just saying a soul is an explanation, if an unprovable one (as things stand). Think of it less as a "scientific theory" and more of a "philosophic idea"
But what I'm saying is that it's not even an unprovable explanation, because it's not an explanation at all. Positing a spiritual soul is no more an explanation than positing a nonsense wordthing like uqweroiuejr. "The uqweroiuejr lies on a uqweroiuejr-like plane of existence and explains knowns X, Y, and Z, even if we can't prove it." Whether it's provable or not doesn't even matter, because we haven't yet said anything meaningful other than implying that we can't yet explain X, Y, and Z. As a philosophic idea, the soul is useful only as a placeholder, not as an explanation.
Note: I'm not necessarily trying to persuade you to agree with me. As a practical matter, it may be that some brains more efficiently by assuming the existence of spiritual substances. In fact, maybe on some subconscious level my brain does believe in spiritual substances and makes me the better off for it. I'm just trying to clarify why I don't bother believing in them on a conscious, rational level.
||||||||||*MySmiley*
Only so evil.
Only so evil.
This message last edited by Burr on 14/09/2009 at 08:17:51 PM
Do you think there's some kind of spiritual substance in the universe?
14/09/2009 02:42:22 PM
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On a gut level, I think all substance is teleologically tied to one or more kinds of consciousness.
14/09/2009 04:03:31 PM
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aaah but who says we can percieve all there is to percieve in relation to our persons?
14/09/2009 04:14:08 PM
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But merely positing a soul (as a spiritual substance) doesn't actually explain anything.
14/09/2009 07:46:35 PM
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i'm not saying that all inexplained qualities are due to "soul"
14/09/2009 07:50:27 PM
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Re: i'm not saying that all inexplained qualities are due to "soul"
14/09/2009 08:05:41 PM
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I think there is definitely a spiritual force that underlies the unity of all things
14/09/2009 06:11:01 PM
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Rum.
14/09/2009 08:25:46 PM
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YES! *NM*
16/09/2009 02:10:55 PM
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How are we not married? *NM*
19/09/2009 04:10:13 AM
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Not the way I'd put it, as jh notes, but unquestionably.
15/09/2009 03:17:22 PM
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The material universe precludes a purely natural cause.
18/09/2009 12:04:16 PM
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One little correction
20/09/2009 12:34:13 AM
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That makes it more complex, but I agree the same basic problem persists.
07/10/2009 12:11:07 PM
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