theories of reality exam

KATHA UPANISHAD

• You have an eternal soul (Atman)

• Atman = Brahman (ultimate reality)

Goal = escape rebirth → immortality

AQUINAS

You can prove God exists with logic

• Cause and effect

• First mover / first cause

• Necessary being

• Design/purpose

• “Cannot go to infinity”

RUSSELL

• Religion is false and harmful

• No rational proof of God

• Religion = fear

• No evidence for God

• Criticizing first cause

• Science > religion

• Church is harmful

DESCARTES

• You can’t trust senses → doubt everything

• Only certainty: “I think, therefore I am”

• Doubt

• Thinking self

• Mind ≠ body (dualism)

• Evil demon / deception

Churchland

• The self is created by the brain

• No soul needed

• Brain constructs self

• Self = representation/model

• Neuroscience

• Not a fixed “thing”

Murphy

• No soul (physicalism but christian)
  BUT

• Still have morality + responsibility

• Christianity + science compatible

• No soul but still human

• Moral responsibility

• Brain affects behavior

Cordova

Identity = relationships + nature

• Humans part of nature

• Community + Earth

• Multiple true stories

• Respect for all life

Menkiti

• You become a person through community

• Personhood develops over time

• Moral responsibility

• Community defines identity

• Duties > rights

Nagel

• Consciousness is subjective

• Science cannot fully explain it

• “What is it like…”

• Bats / animals

• Subjective experience

• Limits of science

Herzing & White

• Dolphins may be persons

• Animal intelligence

• Dolphins

• Personhood beyond humans

• Ethics toward animals

ALTER & HOWELL

A dialogue on consciousness

The mind must be the soul, because if the mind = to the brain then the mind will die