Tuesday, June 18, 2013

J.B.S. Haldane's Refutation of Mind-Body Materialism in One Sentence

"If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true . . . and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms."

3 comments:

  1. I think the whole quote is better:

    "It seems to me immensely unlikely that mind is a mere by-product of matter. For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms."

    http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane

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  2. I think this is a pretty good refutation of epiphenomenalism as well.

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  3. Victor Reppert, whom I got the quote from, believes it to be a refutation of all forms of Naturalism.

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