Originally Posted by DBT
Originally Posted by nighthawk
DBT, That may be if man was nothing more than a physical being. Even the ancient Greek philosophers saw a transcendent aspect in man. There is more to us than brain chemistry.(I for one have made the most damnfool, illogical, self destructive decisions even a butterfly would avoid. Nothing restrained me.)
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The Greeks were far ahead of their time, but that does not mean that the things they believed about the world or the nature of self and the soul are true. If you want to propose a transcendent soul as the decision maker, it needs to shown that an apparently an immaterial, non detectable entity is interacting with the brain as the Master of the system.

As it is, any significant condition within the brain, lesions, connectivity failure, chemical imbalances, etc, does in fact effect perception and decision making in very specific ways regardless of the presence of this proposed non material entity, the soul.


On the neurology of morals
Patients with medial prefrontal lesions often display irresponsible behavior, despite being intellectually unimpaired. But similar lesions occurring in early childhood can also prevent the acquisition of factual knowledge about accepted standards of moral behavior.

Then there peer reviewed scientific studies of near death experiences and terminal lucidity you have to deal with.

No, not that th Greeks had all the answers, but since the ancient Greeks formed the basis of Western thought you have to do battle with them first.

There are five Transcendental Desires that were recognized around 400 BC by Plato and Aristotle. St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and many other philosophers have spoken of these same desires through the centuries.

What are these transcendental desires? They are our built-in desires for:

Perfect and unconditional Truth
Perfect and unconditional Love
Perfect and unconditional Justice (Goodness)
Perfect and unconditional Beauty
Perfect and unconditional Being (Home)

How can we have transcendent desires without some sort of transcendent nature?

The key elements in human thinking are not numbers but labels of fuzzy sets. -- L. Zadeh

Which explains a lot.