(2022-07-20, 06:31 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]Very interesting, but I think it may not be really necessary. Descartian Interactional Dualism still has some life in it, and even may well be simpler or less complicated than this formulation, in my estimation. The need for a causal interaction of two existentially different substances is supposed to be a definitive refutation. However, Wiki of all things mentions several plausible refutations of this argument. The best ones:
Quote:"...it has been suggested that given many disciplines deal with things they do not entirely understand, dualists not entirely understanding the mechanism of mind-body interaction need not be seen as definitive refutation. And the idea that causation necessarily depends on push-pull mechanisms (which would not be possible for a substance that did not occupy space) is also arguably based on obsolete conceptions of physics."
Simpler...? Less complicated...? How is it simpler or less complicated than a stance that fully fills in the blanks? It feels, honestly, less complete.
It feels like a very strange defense to say "scientific disciplines deal with things they don't understand, therefore dualists don't need to think of an explanation", especially when there are stances which **provide** explanations!
An incomplete explanation is left most wanting... in filling in the blanks, even if they're incorrect.
(2022-07-20, 06:31 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]Spiritual traditional versions of this would include the observation that if God and a spiritual heirarchy exist that set up our reality, the existence of souls and of free will and of separate physical and spiritual realms may have been a founding set of requirements, to be filled by fiat by the will of God and/or higher spiritual beings. Brute facts of reality that would include the laws of physics with all of their obvious fine tuning, and an interactional dualist nature of reality.
Why would an all-powerful God with a spiritual hierarchy even need to create different base substances...? It seems needless complicated...
And amusingly enough, this setup just reintroduces a form of Monism / Non-Duality into the picture! The base substance being God. We're right back to Monism / Non-Duality... because it implies that mind and matter are not their own base substances, but are based on God, as God, a singular entity, was the Creator.
(2022-07-20, 06:31 PM)nbtruthman Wrote: [ -> ]The Hard Problem of course isn't a problem at all for Interactional Dualism, just for Physicalism.
The Hard Problem isn't a problem for Physicalists precisely because they pretend it's not an issue for them... even though the existence of mind and qualia clearly blows massive holes in Physicalism's claims.
Pure Dualists just have a different problem... of how mind and matter can interact at all.
Idealism has no such issue, because matter can be reduced to mind, as it were.
Dialectical / Dualistic Monism fills in the holes that Idealism is criticised of having, by acknowledging the statements of Dualism, and filling in the blanks by positing Idealism.
Which is why Taoism is such a neat philosophy, because it lends itself perfectly to having its concepts being transformed into a metaphysical philosophy. It satisfies both my Dualist observations and Idealist beliefs about reality.