Body, Mind and Soul

[jcrawford]

I am currently working on developing a comprehensive theory of cognition which will account for the existence of man's body, mind and soul, and hereby invite all other posters to reasonably critique or otherwise constructively contribute to the further development of the theory.

It should be presumed and understood from the outset that this scientific experiment is both a scientific and religious work in progress and that any successful development of this theory by current posters will be duly accredited to all those who make reasonable contributions to it's development.

Here is a minimalist account of the theory developed so far by yours truly:


COGNITIVE THEORY of BODY, MIND & SOUL.
by
John Crawford


Initial Premises, Presuppositions and Definitions:

1 BODY consists of physically perceivable sensations of material objects and physical forces.

2 MIND consists of self-conscious cognitive mental processes which intermediate between Body and Soul.

3 SOUL is the essence of self, ego, personality, memory and conscious self-awareness of existence.


Self-evident Postulate and Justification
for Theoretical Premises:

I know (cognize) that I have a brain and nervous system within my body, but have no observable, experiential, testable or scientific way of knowing that my brain or nervous system are capable of knowing anything in the sense that it may be classified as mental, cognitive or self-conscious knowledge.


Further Expositions on, and definitions of,
the Nature, Character, Being, Structure and Essence
of Body, Mind and Soul.


1. BODY:

All physical phenomena which may be reasonably and rationally categorized and classified as being part of the universe which physicists have defined as consisting of material force and mass.


2. MIND

All that which is strictly intellectual, cognitive, conceptual and mental in the realm of consciousness and self-awareness.

Eg: ideas, beliefs, theories, thoughts and knowledge.


3. SOUL

All which pertains to self-consciousness and awareness of self, ego, personhood, individual identity and spiritual existence.

[QED]

Sure there's a sense of self, a "little me" peeing out through the eyes of a bigger "me". But that's no reason to invent a metaphysical entity to account for it.

Your sense of self, conscience and soul were certainly not metaphysically invented by me, since concepts and experience of these "metaphysical entites" were around long before I was born.

Quite so. No doubt they date back to the times of mythology along with all the other popular superstitions. But how does shifting the date of the invention help us establish it as fact?

Another big difference between humans and lifeless computers is that the human soul has willpower, conscience and a mind to reflect on which impulses, ideas and beliefs to act on whereas computers are created by humans to function as designed and programmed to.

I could paraphrase you thus:

Another big difference between humans and lifeless computers is that I say the human soul has willpower, conscience and a mind to reflect on which impulses, ideas and beliefs to act on whereas I say that computers are created by humans to function as designed and programmed to.

Both of these are assertions that need to be adequately supported otherwise they should be stated as assumptions. In doing "what they are programmed to do" Computers can easily "do things" that cannot be predicted by their programmer. This simple fact undermines your second assertion and opens the door to

[jcrawford]

And only dolphins have their awarness of the dolphin souls, and only elephants have awareness of their elephant souls.. and only cats have awareness of their feline souls.

And computers have electric souls and dream of electric sheep.

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

[Cathar1950]

And only dolphins have their awarness of the dolphin souls, and only elephants have awareness of their elephant souls.. and only cats have awareness of their feline souls.

And computers have electric souls and dream of electric sheep.

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

How do you know they don't have souls?
I look at the soul as a symbol for the whole being.
What is a living soul and what is a non living soul?
When God breathed into the nose of the mud pie what is the difference between an animal and a man except he was made out of red clay in a nondescript image of God? The ancient assumed the gods looked like us. They walked talked an ate and it seems they ate from the tree to live forever or close to it. They knew or experience both good and evil not the difference between the two.

[Goat]

And only dolphins have their awarness of the dolphin souls, and only elephants have awareness of their elephant souls.. and only cats have awareness of their feline souls.

And computers have electric souls and dream of electric sheep.

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

Other than a 'feeling', how do you know you do? How do you know they don't?

[Quixotic]

Really don't like this theory.

A theory must arrive either
a) After study and data extraction of whatever it is you are theorising about or
b) Before the study, then study it to find out if your theory meets the data, then see a again.

Here you have gone straight to creating a theory and not tested any of it!

Your theory does not make any sense anyway


1)"BODY consists of physically perceivable sensations of material objects and physical forces. "

The body is sensations? The body is an abstract concept? Yes im sure that will help us understand how it works and make better repairs of it in the future.

2) MIND consists of self-conscious cognitive mental processes which intermediate between Body and Soul.

SOUL is the essence of self, ego, personality, memory and conscious self-awareness of existence. "

You have described the mind.

The body is the collection of parts which makes us up not including the brain. The brain is the mind.

[jcrawford]

And only dolphins have their awarness of the dolphin souls, and only elephants have awareness of their elephant souls.. and only cats have awareness of their feline souls.

And computers have electric souls and dream of electric sheep.

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

How do you know they don't have souls?

By knowing what my own soul consists of and is capable of self-consciously nowing, I know that computers have no souls because they are not living things and that sub-human animals may have souls but are incapable of communicating that information to me in any human way.

I look at the soul as a symbol for the whole being.

Your soul is your whole being.

What is a living soul and what is a non living soul?

I only know what a living soul is.

When God breathed into the nose of the mud pie what is the difference between an animal and a man except he was made out of red clay in a nondescript image of God?

Man's being made in the image and likeness of God is the difference.

The ancient assumed the gods looked like us. They walked talked an ate and it seems they ate from the tree to live forever or close to it. They knew or experience both good and evil not the difference between the two.

All knowledge in the Bible is premised on God's creation of all knowledge and His foreknowledge of Satan's half-truths.

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

[jcrawford]

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

Other than a 'feeling', how do you know you do?

Same way I know I am human. I THINK, THEREFORE I AM a human soul self-consciously capable of thinking, feeling and willing.

How do you know they don't?

I don't know that sub-human animals do not have souls. I do know that they are incapable of communicating that information to me on a verbal and intellectual level, since they are but dumb animals and cannot speak for themselves as we have been so gifted and blessed.

[Goat]

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

Other than a 'feeling', how do you know you do?

Same way I know I am human. I THINK, THEREFORE I AM a human soul self-consciously capable of thinking, feeling and willing.

How do you know they don't?

I don't know that sub-human animals do not have souls. I do know that they are incapable of communicating that information to me on a verbal and intellectual level, since they are but dumb animals and cannot speak for themselves as we have been so gifted and blessed.

You are attributing the fact you can 'think' and have a mind with a metaphysical concept of a soul. Does your metaphysical concept of a soul differ from having a mind and emotions? Do you, for example attribute the characteristic of 'immortal' to it,and think it surivies death?

[Wyvern]

How do you know that dolphins, elephants, cats and computers have souls, goat?

Other than a 'feeling', how do you know you do?

Same way I know I am human. I THINK, THEREFORE I AM a human soul self-consciously capable of thinking, feeling and willing.

Does that mean someone in a permanent vegetative state has no soul since they are incapable of any of these things?

How do you know they don't?

I don't know that sub-human animals do not have souls. I do know that they are incapable of communicating that information to me on a verbal and intellectual level, since they are but dumb animals and cannot speak for themselves as we have been so gifted and blessed.

So are deaf-mutes souls in question since they cannot verbalize? Do parrots have souls since some can talk? Does the fact that some apes have been taught sign language mean they have souls or is it that your inability to understand sign cloud your judgement?

[jcrawford]

Really don't like this theory.

A theory must arrive either
a) After study and data extraction of whatever it is you are theorising about or
b) Before the study, then study it to find out if your theory meets the data, then see a again.

Here you have gone straight to creating a theory and not tested any of it!

Marx, Darwin and Freud did the same and left it to the rest the world to study, test, and demonstrate the truthfulness of their theories.

Your theory does not make any sense anyway

Neither do the theories of Marx, Darwin and Freud.

1)"BODY consists of physically perceivable sensations of material objects and physical forces. "

The body is sensations? The body is an abstract concept? Yes im sure that will help us understand how it works and make better repairs of it in the future.

BODY refers to any and all physical bodies in the universe, not just the human body.

SOUL is the essence of self, ego, personality, memory and conscious self-awareness of existence. "

You have described the mind.

MIND consists of self-conscious cognitive mental processes which intermediate between Body and Soul since the experience of self, ego, personality, memory and consciousness is what constitutes the Soul, the Mind being only that aspect and function of the Soul which is capable of objective reflection upon the contents of the Soul.

The body is the collection of parts which makes us up not including the brain. The brain is the mind.

The brain is that part of a body which transmits information received by external and internal stimuli, which cause it to translate and process the information exchanged between the Body and the Soul.

Confusing or equating mind and brain is like saying that the sun is the temperature when in reality the sun generates heat and temperature is a measurement of heat.

Similarly, the mind is that objective part of our soul which has the capacity to objectively observe the brain, since the brain has no observable capacity to either objectively or subjectively observe itself.