(ELOG 2 for CS3790: Cognitive Science)
There is a debate in cognitive science about whether the mind and the brain are the same. On the one side, the materialists – those who believe that the mind is simply a part of the brain, completely physical in nature. On the other side, dualists, those who believe that there is a distinct difference between the brain and the mind. The dualists feel that there is something beyond the brain.
Personally, I think I take the side of the dualists, though I do see a lot of merit in the claims of both sides. The materialists posit that everything can be understood in a very scientific manner. They claim that none of our brain actions are beyond scientific understanding. The fact that we can eventually understand everything, including the state of our brain, does appeal to my scientific nature. I like to think that we can eventually understand everything.
Unfortunately, the materialists claim that there is nothing beyond the brain to understand. They claim that we are really just very sophisticated machines with inputs and outputs predefined to certain specifications. To the materialist argument, consciousness is simply a by-product of randomly firing neurons that we could eventually learn to understand and even possibly control.
This leads to a very deterministic view on life in general, implying that if we had a good enough understanding of the person, we could entirely map out and predict every choice they would make. The materialists have to deny the possibility of free will. Everything is cause and effect – the brain is pushed by certain stimuli to create a certain response. As much as I like to believe that science holds all of the answers, I find it hard to swallow that I am a simple automaton carrying out tasks to some already defined specifications.
The dualist argument appeals to me because it does not try to deny free will. It proposes that there is something beyond our simple brain states. It claims that consciousness is not just simulated by random firing of neurons, but that there is something inherently different about the consciousness beyond simple brain states. The possibility of a brain affected by something beside external factors, a soul, if you will, gives me the benefit of having free will, of being in control of my own destiny.
When it comes down to it, the debate really is whether there is more to life than science can ever fully explain. I’m not very religious, but I can’t help but feel that there is.
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