It’s literally like this:

Materialists/Physicalists: “The thoughts in your head come from your conditions and are ultimately the result of your organs and nervous system. Your consciousness is linked to your brain activity and other parts of your body interacting with the physical real world.”

Dualists: “Ok but what if there were an imaginary zombie that has the same organs and molecular structure as a living person but somehow isn’t alive on some metaphysical level. If this zombie is conceivable, that means it must be metaphysically true somehow.”

Materialists: “That’s circular and imaginary, isn’t it?”

Other dualists: “Ok but what if I were in a swamp and lightning strikes a tree and magically creates a copy of me but it’s not actually me because it doesn’t have my soul.”

Am I reading this stuff wrong or are these actually the best arguments for mind-body dualism

  • space_comrade [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    Non-physical things have never been observed, so how would it fit into any explanation of anything?

    Well if you can entertain the idea that non-physical things might exist then you’re observing a non-physical thing at every point of your existence, your own consciousness. What better candidate for the non-physical than consciousness itself?