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."
"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."
I think the whole quote is better:
ReplyDelete"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
I think this is a pretty good refutation of epiphenomenalism as well.
ReplyDeleteVictor Reppert, whom I got the quote from, believes it to be a refutation of all forms of Naturalism.
ReplyDelete