Weighing The Soul

No self-respecting professor of philosophy wants to discuss the soul in class. It reeks of old-time theology, or, worse, New Age quantum treacle. The soul has been a dead end in philosophy ever since the positivists unmasked its empty referential center. Scientific philosophy has shown us that there's no there there.

But make no mistake, our students are very interested in the soul. More

A Hiccup of Gross Irrationality?

According to Hindu advaita philosophy, or nondualism, your "I am" is a manifestation of the great "I AM," and for that reason you don't die because your apparent self is only an illusion, a manifestation, a projection on the screen of your mind. In Christian doctrine, our immortal souls are sent to either heaven or hell. (Fortunately, Pope Benedict not too long ago saved innocent babies from limbo by decreeing that it does not exist.) Descartes found he could not doubt that he was doubting, and for that reason he existed. Each of these perspectives provides a stratagem for positing some kind of eternal being against the fear of dying.

Of course we knew it would only be a matter of time before neuroscientists and neurophilosophers would take aim at such beliefs as so much nonsense. I am reminded of Tom Wolfe's famous essay about them, titled "Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died." (See the sidebar on this page.) An argument for the evolution of the brain and from evolutionary psychology provides them with their starting point. Read on.

Some researchers "are increasingly arguing that the evolution of self-consciousness has posed a different kind of problem altogether. This position holds that our ancestors suffered the unshakable illusion that their minds were immortal, and it’s this hiccup of gross irrationality that we have unmistakably inherited from them. Individual human beings, by virtue of their evolved cognitive architecture, had trouble conceptualizing their own psychological inexistence from the start." More

The Preachments & Preenings of The New Atheists

"I think I am very close to concluding that this whole 'New Atheism' movement is only a passing fad—not the cultural watershed its purveyors imagine it to be, but simply one of those occasional and inexplicable marketing vogues that inevitably go the way of pet rocks, disco, prime-time soaps, and The Bridges of Madison County. This is not because I necessarily think the current 'marketplace of ideas' particularly good at sorting out wise arguments from foolish. But the latest trend in à la mode godlessness, it seems to me, has by now proved itself to be so intellectually and morally trivial that it has to be classified as just a form of light entertainment, and popular culture always tires of its diversions sooner or later and moves on to other, equally ephemeral toys. . . .

And how long should we waste our time with the sheer banality of the New Atheists—with, that is, their childishly Manichean view of history, their lack of any tragic sense, their indifference to the cultural contingency of moral 'truths,' their wanton incuriosity, their vague babblings about 'religion' in the abstract, and their absurd optimism regarding the future they long for?" More

Julia Sweeney: Letting Go Of God

Remembered as a comedian on Saturday Night Live, Julia Sweeney developed a monologue after her brother Michael was diagnosed with lymphoma, and she found herself with uterine cancer. She crafted it into a stage show, God Said Ha!, debuting at San Francisco's Magic Theater in 1995. Letting Go of God is her third monologue. In it she makes hilarious remarks on her Catholic upbringing and some Mormon missionary youths whom she invited into her home. The part below covers that segment of the monologue.


This link takes you to the other segments, done when she was younger.

Some other features of her resumé: Sweeney appeared in Pulp Fiction, Clock Stoppers, Whatever It Takes, and Stuart Little. On prime time television she was a series regular on George & Leo and Maybe It's Me. She guest-starred on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Hope & Gloria, Mad About You, and According to Jim. In 2004, Sweeney co-starred in two episodes of Frasier (as Frasier's litigious unwanted house guest, Ann) and had a guest role on Sex and the City.

Colin McGinn on Faith and Reason

Colin McGinn on Faith & Reason. McGinn currently teaches at U. of Miami. Each segment below is relatively short. Part 1. A rough sketch of some of his comments: (1) People don't believe in unicorns, but we have good psychological reasons to believe in God that don't apply to unicorns; (2) We have moved from the Old Testament God of Wrath to an abstract God largely devoid of human characteristics; (3) A question is, How much is the longing for God part of human nature, and how much enculturation? (I will some day discuss Andrew Newberg, who hypothesizes a God Factor wired into the brain.); (4) McGinn dropped God from his life and sees no difference in it; (5) Religion, not indoctrination, can serve in schools as an important access to vital questions on the meaning of life and human values.



Part 2. A rough sketch of some of his comments: (1) In the dialogues between faith and reason, too much emphasis is given to faith, not enough to reason. (2) Intellectuals have told the world that truth and objective systems are all illusions. Ergo, we should accept subjectively-based systems and opinions as merely another way of thinking about the world. (3) A popular perspective is that because all things are relative, we are politically incorrect when we criticize the incoherence of somebody else's opinions or faith. Watch here.

Part 3. The story of Jesus is a powerful story. It has many ingredients, including injustice and justice . . . Watch here.