| | I agree that there must be a very close connection between the mind and body, but I'm not sure that material entities like brains and supporting bodies are sufficient for human thought. My argument was that brains and supporting bodies are necessary for human thought, but a human body with the appropriate physiology (i.e., a conscious, fully functioning brain, sensory organs and nervous system) is sufficient as well. If a person is alive, awake and well with no sensory or brain dysfunction, then he will be conscious.
I wrote, "Of course, knowledge is not possible in a universe without consciousness -- without material entities that are conscious (if that's what is meant by "materialistic universe") -- but neither is it possible in entities that are non-material. Knowledge requires entities that are both conscious and material, since an immaterial entity (if such existed) would lack the physical organs required for consciousness and knowledge. Your argument...
(1) If I know of no conscious entity that lacks materiality, then (necessarily) no conscious entity can lack materiality (by fiat and/or general incredulity)
(2) I know of no conscious entity that lacks materiality
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Therefore (by my fiat and/or general increduilty, in combination with modus ponens), it is necessary that all conscious entities possess materiality
...is a very bad one. My argument is not simply that I know of no conscious entity that lacks materiality; therefore, none exists. I know of no houses that are pink with purple polka dots, but that doesn't mean that none exists. My argument is that an immaterial consciousness is inconceivable, because consciousness requires material organs of perception and cognition. Perception, by its nature, always takes a particular form, which is determined by the organ of perception, e.g., vision through the eye, hearing through the ear, smell through the olfactory nerve, etc. Formless perception is nonsensical and inconceivable. Similarly, we know that thought is an activity of a material organ, the brain, which depends on its proper functioning. Could thought exist without such an organ? I don't see how. There has to be something that does the thinking -- that processes the sensory input.
In short, to say that consciousness activity can exist without a body, brain and physical sense organs is like saying that digestion can exist without a stomach, walking without legs, or respiration without lungs. An immaterial consciousness is an action without an entity, which is a metaphysical impossibility.
- Bill
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