A Brief Refutation of Physicalism (Part 4)
In my previous posts, I have shown that mental properties and physical properties are not identical. This would at least establish that property dualism is true. However, there is good reason to go further and also believe that substance dualism is true. It is not just that the physical brain has two kinds of properties (property dualism), but humans possess a body and an immaterial soul which possess their respective kinds of properties.
The split-brain thought experiment illustrates that no amount of information about my body or my consciousness will tell anyone where I am. Let us suppose that person 1’s brain is split in ½, with ½ of his brain placed into a body (person 2) and the other ½ into another body (person 3). Suppose that persons 2 and 3 both have all of person 1’s memories and personality traits.
Where is person 1? It could be that person 1 was annihilated and two new people came into existence. It could be that person 1 is now person 2, and person 3 is a mental double. It could be that person 1 is now person 3, and person 2 is a mental double. It won’t work to split person 1 in half and end up with ½ persons.
The end result is that although we know where person 1’s brain and body are, we have no idea where person 1 is. Yet, if the physicalist view were correct, we would. No amount of information can answer the question of where person 1 is. So, there is more to person 1 than just his brain, body, or even personality traits, memories, and conscious life.
Next, more reasons to believe that substance dualism is true.