The debate on soul (regarding the the existence or non-) is similar
to that regarding God. For one thing there cannot be any "scientific"
discussion on soul. One will not find the word soul in any scientific
paper or book. A scientific discussion on soul is an oxymoron,
because soul, like god, is not an objectively defined notion that is
amenable to any rational/scienfic discussion. Any discussion on soul
has to be a philosophical one, which can invoke science depeneding on
the context. Such a discussion can be meaningful(rational) if it is a
(meta) debate on the debates on the existence of "soul". Why is the
debate on the "existence" of soul irrational? Because to assert the
existence or non-existence (of anything) would be a logical
proposition (a true/false statement) and a proposition is meaningless
if it involves a non-cognitive (objectively undefined) term like
soul or god (Please refer to my earlier post on Intro to Logic at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/16669). So as much
as it is illogical to assert that soul exists and to invoke
fallacious arguments to "prove" that it does exist, it is equally
fallacious to assert that soul does not exist,regardless of whether
the arguments to justify that assertion is a fallacy or not,because
the very notion one is trying to prove the existence(or non-) of, is
not a well-defined notion. It doesn't make sense to say that
something exists or that it doesn't if that very thing is vague,
objectively undefined (as far as it's existence or non-existence is
concerned)
Another meaningful(i.e scientific/rational) discusson can be why
humans have devised the notion of soul and god, however ill-defined
those notions may be? The answer to that is pretty well understood.
One simple yet precise answer is that in humans (and many laymen still
today cannot) could not understand or explain (by natural laws) how
human mind or consciousness arises naturally. So they lumped that
ignorance into a black box notion of "soul" which "causes" humans to
exhibit the consciusness (and thus all the human emotions, feelings,
free will etc). So the notion of soul from a rationalist perspective
is really that "soul" is a catchall term to reflect a human's
inability to understand and explain human consciousness by any known
natural law at the time. The same argument applies to the notion of
God, where the inability to explain or understand that gave rise to
the notion of God was the entire universe. Humans could not explain
(using known natural laws) why or how the observable universe came
about. So the simple logic of genesis of such non-cognitive notions
like god and soul is like this :
Humans do not understand how or why "A" is created or A acts in the
way it does. So invent a term X and say that X exists who created A
or that X exists and causes A to act the way A does.
More careful study using evolutionary ideas reveals that the notions
of God and soul are instincts instilled in human brain by evolutionary
forces. Anyway what reinforced the notions of God and soul was the
testimony by saints and mystics that they have experienced the feeling
of the presence of God, and in the reports of miracles by ordinary folks.
In case of soul the reinforcement was due to the reported sighting of
ghosts and apparitions of dead people. Although in scientific domain
personal testimonies have no relevancy in establishing or rejecting
a notion, for populations at large such personal testimonies do stick,
and seems to adds legitimacy to such notions in the public psyche.
Positing the existence of the cause (yet unknown) of an effect itself
is not illogical. Scientists always look for causes/explanations of
observations. What is illogical is to endow the unknown cause X with
known attributes and thus in effect claim to know the nature of X
when the very notion of X reflects an ignorance of that unknown cause.
A logical possibility of God or soul (defined as the causes or
creators of universe and humans) would be the laws of Physics. But
obviously it would be a fallacy to endow humanlike attributes to laws
of physics, as much as it would be a fallacy to say that "anger" has
hair, love has "legs" etc. That the laws of physics is behind human
consciousness is pretty much understood via the mechanism of
evolution. Evolution is laws of physics in action on complex systems
(Where laws of complexity and emergent effects apply). That universe
CAN BE created by laws of physics is also understood. But it is not
certain yet that Laws of Physics is the only way universe can be
CREATED, although it is certain that the universe EVOLVED after
creation according to the laws pf physics. It is also understood how
the feeling of having experiences the presence of god is generated in
the human mind thanks to the experiemnts and research of neuro-
theologists like Persinger, late Acquilli and many others. Avijit's
recent article has covered the scientific researches in this topic.
I have also discussed it my earlier posts in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uttorshuri/message/17727
(Brain and Religion)
and in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uttorshuri/message/14998
(Soul,Brain and the Laws of Physics)
Reports of ghosts and apparitions are also possibly due to neuronal
actions, or some other natural causes. I must add that the "fear"
of unknown is a hardwired instinct in the brain, that can apply to
anyone, rationalist or not. So even a rationalist may have a fear of
darkness, loneliness and may experience fear generated feeling/
illusion of ghosts and apparitions due to the neuronal workings
inside the brain.
What is still not known though, is how the laws of physics itself
(which seesm to be at the root of everything, from galaxies to viruses
to fear, jealousies etc in human mind) came about? We don't know the
"X" that causes or creates "A" (The laws of Physics). That is the
ultimate mystery. We can posit a cause "X" of the laws of Physics (A).
It would not be illogical to do so. We can even label that cause as
God, not to be confused with the "God" of Abrahamic religions. This God
would just be a label for a hithertoo unknown cause of an effect. Bt it
still powerful source of awe and mystery to a acientific mind. Probably
it is the possibility of that cause which mystified Einstein.
-Apathib
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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
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