No Evidence that the Supernatural is Involved in Our Ability to Confirm Our Observations
Kevin R. Henke
October 13, 2022
In Henke (2022b) and Henke (2022au), I stated the following:
“Lundahl (2022a) also makes the following statement to me about nature and our consciousness:
“Other takeaway in CSL's [C.S. Lewis’] Miracles, you carry around yourself two very clear indications that nature is not all there is - neither reason nor morality can be reduced to matter and energy affected by each other in accordance with laws of physics and chemistry. The ‘hard problem of consciousness’ - to take it from a somewhat different angle - remains hard. We don't just need an intelligent designer who arranged our brains for optimal consciousness, we need (for purposes we take for granted, like refuting or like blaming) something other than just brain arrangements in our consciousness.”
I fully admit that I’m no expert on consciousness. Contrary to what Lundahl (2022a) and Lewis (1960, his chapter 3, etc.) indicate in this quotation, our thoughts are electrical and our brains are matter. Lewis (1960, chapter 3, etc.) questioned the ability of humans to rationally understand our surroundings through naturalism and he argued that we should seriously consider that miracles occur. However, Lewis (1960) had the burden of evidence to demonstrate his claims for miracles and he failed to do so. Now, investigators are still looking for miracles at revival meetings, among psychics, at supposedly haunted houses, and elsewhere, and not finding any evidence for them.
Who we are, including our reason and moral values, arise from interactions between our brains and our surroundings. We observe, test and confirm with the help of others our conclusions about events in nature. Our brains, thoughts and surroundings are all ultimately controlled by the laws of chemistry and physics. That is, we can imagine what it would be like to be able to magically levitate objects only using our thoughts, but the laws of chemistry and physics don’t actually allow us to do it. Nevertheless, there is a danger that when we recognize that our brains are nothing but matter and energy that we might be tempted to trivialize this electrical activity and think that it has no serious consequences. That is, considering how much damage the electrical activity in Putin’s brain is doing to millions of people in the Ukraine, we cannot underestimate the power of a single human brain to manipulate other humans and weapons in his/her environment. This is why millions of people hope that Putin’s brain soon ceases to function and that more rational and empathetic brains will replace him.
Our morals and reasoning abilities arise in response to our surroundings, including how we interact with other humans. By getting confirmation from our fellow humans and doing experimental testing, we can make reliable discoveries about our environment. We can send spacecraft to Moon, understand why severe earthquakes occur in certain areas and not others, and we understand what causes influenza, etc. The supernatural is not needed to explain these discoveries. Because of the power of the human brain and our ability to adequately understand what’s going on in our surroundings, we can have a huge impact on our surroundings. Unfortunately, humans can also do extensive damage to our environment.
No gods, angels, demons or a Bible are also needed to figure out how people should try to function in our environments. We should develop rules (morality) through reason and not Biblical dogma so that we can live peacefully with each other and our environment. No sane person wants to live in poverty, misery and violence. Ukrainian soldiers are the only sane individuals wanting to move to eastern Ukraine.
We should also recognize that not all brains function well. Mental illness and deficiency are real. As rational research shows, chemicals, traumatic experiences and genetics can certainly cause mental illness. Demons aren’t required.” [my emphasis]
Lundahl (2022s) then gives the following response to my bolded statement:
“The exact problem : if our brains and thoughts were ultimately controlled by such laws (or rather causalities described by them!), we would not be able to confirm conclusions, only expectations about what turns up around ourselves. And this view of reality is not an expectation of what turns up next to Mr. Henke, it is a conclusion.”
Of course, humans are able to observe nature, derive natural laws to explain how it works, successfully make predictions about it and then use that information to go to the Moon and make other achievements. Through science, we have understood and confirmed many of nature’s properties. We can repeatedly test our “expectations” and see if they are real. In some cases, we actually understand why nature is the way it is. For example, we understand why sodium chloride (salt) consistently dissolves in water to produce ions rather than sodium metal and chlorine gas. We don’t need to say “God did it!” or “Angels are responsible!”. We know that valence electrons exist and we have a good idea of how they behave.
Now, the human brain is capable of imagining a lot of possibilities, but the laws of nature actually limit what we can do. As I stated in the sentence after the bolded section above:
“That is, we can imagine what it would be like to be able to magically levitate objects only using our thoughts, but the laws of chemistry and physics don’t actually allow us to do it.”
As I further stated in Henke (2022hd):
“Certainly, we are limited by the laws of chemistry and physics. I can look at birds and wish that I could fly by just flapping my arms. However, the laws of physics prevent me from doing that.”
So, the laws controlling the biochemistry of our brains certainly allow us to make observations of nature and imagine a lot of things. But, natural laws prevent us from actually physically doing a lot of the things that we can imagine.
Now, Mr. Lundahl thinks that there has to be a “soul” or something “spiritual” or supernatural going on in our thinking. Otherwise, supposedly we wouldn’t be able to confirm and understand the properties of nature that we observe. This is groundless nonsense. If our brains are underdeveloped, such in infancy, or damaged, our thought processes are indeed limited. In some cases, neurologists and other scientists even explain why damage to certain parts of the brain leads to certain personality changes or disabilities. There’s no evidence of any souls or spirits being involved. As discussed in Harris (2010) and Dennett (2006), religious views of souls, spirits, and ghosts are outdated and unnecessary explanations.
Reference:
Dennett, D.C. 2006. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon: Viking: Penguin Group: New York, 448pp.
Harris, S. 2010. The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Hunan Values: Free Press: New York, N.Y., USA, 291pp.
Lewis, C.S. 1960. Miracles, 2nd ed., printed 1974: Harper One: HarperCollinsPublishers, 294pp.