"The Martian was now brooding over the theological problem of whether the [Rorvan] had souls; he felt they did, but how to prove it?" (p. 88)
How can he prove that human beings have souls? He probably accepts this as revealed. However, Biblical immortality is the resurrection of the body, not the survival of a soul. That is the Platonic concept, later adopted by Christianity. Greek philosophers laughed at St Paul when he preached a bodily resurrection.
When I first read Poul Anderson, I had been taught to believe in mind-body dualism and to identify mind with soul. Thus, I would have said that the Rorvan reason, therefore they have minds which are souls. Now I think that neuronic interactions generate consciousness and thought. There are qualitative differences between subjectively experienced mental states and objectively observed cerebral states just as there are between colors and electromagnetic wavelengths. Hegel argued that quantitative changes become qualitative.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I know "materialism" is a well worn topic on which we are unable to come to an agreement. But this bit from page 40 of INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (Catholic Truth Society, 2005), by Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ is relevant: "We learned in GENESIS that as God's creation were made in His image and likeness. Obviously this has nothing to do with the shape of our noses or the colors of our eyes. Classical Catholic theology has identified this likeness as representing the essential aspects of the soul, namely intellect and free will." And in the next paragraph, also on page 40: "Intellect and free will are the essential ingredients for being in a loving relationship with anyone, whether you are loving a fellow creature or loving God. We have to be capable of being aware of our own existence, and the existence of the other with whom we would be in love. And we must be free to choose to accept or reject the possibility of loving."
Also, I don't think can REALLY explain how life can arise in the first place from non-living things, as Brother Guy said elsewhere in INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. Chemical reactions over long periods of times doesn't really explain it!
Sean
Drat. I omitted a word from the first sentence of my second paragraph. I meant to write: "Also, I don't think science can REALLY explain..."
Sean
Sean,
The ingredients of biological life: complex chemistry; energy; time. Over time, energized complex molecules change randomly until one becomes self-replicating. That's life. Then natural selection takes over.
Intellect and will, I think, emerged within socially interacting, environment-manipulating organisms.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I know that is the basic belief of materialists, but I don't believe that that is all there is to "life."
Sean
Sean,
If this account describes the observed features of life, then it is sufficient.
Paul.
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