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J.P. Moreland on Consciousness and Naturalism

An email response to Amanda Gefter's "Creationists Declare War over the Brain", The New Scientist (October, 22 2008). Cited in "EPS Philosophers Respond to New Scientist Article On 'Creationism' and Materialism" on the Evangelical Philosophical Society Blog (October 23, 2008).

The simple truth is that in both science and philosophy, strict physicalist analysis of consciousness and the self have been breaking down since the mid-1980s. The problems with physicalism have nothing directly to do with theism; they follow from rigorous treatments of consciousness and the self as we know them to be. The real problem comes in trying to explain its origin and for this problem, naturalism in general and Darwinism in particular, are useless. In my view, the only two serious contenders are theism and panpsychism which, contrary
to the musings of some, has throughout the history of philosophy been correctly taken as a rival to and not a specification of naturalism.


One thought on “J.P. Moreland on Consciousness and Naturalism

  1. Sunep says:

    Thanks Moreland for your contribution in this issue of “Body and Mind”. I, as an anthropologist find it very, very interesting and convincing too.

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