Anyone seen my altruism?
/denialism blog : This guy is a brain surgeon?
Michael Egnor
Clearly the brain, as a material substance, causes movement of the body, which is also a material substance. The links are nerves and muscles. But there is no material link between our ideas and our brains, because ideas aren’t material. Substances that lack properties in common cannot cause mutual effects. ‘My altruism is three inches from the edge of the table’ is a nonsensical statement. ‘My brain caused my altruism’ is nonsensical as well. A satisfactory explanation of altruism intrinsically requires a method open to immaterial causes.
Mark Hoofnagle of Denialism:
I'm not a neuroscientist, but that's strikes me as the dumbest thing I've heard yet. No material link between our ideas and our brains? So I guess when we take a hallucinogen like LSD it works by magic? How could it be that thinkingis separate from "material" as he puts it, when we can ingest material substances that alter our thinking? How is it that damage to specific areas of the brain can inhibit different kinds of thought? Immaterial things like remorse, impulsivity, memory, language can all be affected by "material" brain-damage and "material" drugs. How does the non-materialist explain this? Is it magic?
