Are we truly spiritual and free?

[Qualia]

Hello i’m new, and i just wanted to see if anyone could help me with some questions, it will be truly apprecieated

I’m sorry if this has already been posted, i tried to search for similar threads

My question, are we really free?, recently i have noticed something that has been scalating to much more than a simple trend, and that is the (at least for me incrompehensible) desire of mainstream science and many philosophers to dehumanize humanity, imposing a totally reductionistic view of mankind, people like Steven Pinker, Paul Churchland, Sam Harris, Stephen Hawking, Alex Rosenberg among many others, that seem to be pushing up the idea that neuroscience and its derivates really show that humans are merely incidentally complex apes, according to them consciousness is nothing but an illusion, mind is merely and accident in the brain and there is no such thing as free will, all we do is determined and our perception of choice is merely illusional and we are never in control of anything ( i have never understood how can they believe they are not chosing to believe that thing). This has produced a lot of doubts and frankly anguish, for if science as they pose it really gives us that picture of humans, isn’t that a direct contradiction of what catholicism has always said about us humans, that we are free, responsible, that we have a trascendent reality directly created by God?

my question is that, is it truly that as humankind is currently understood , are we not anything but biological robots?, don’t we really have a soul, that trascends our limited body ?

thanks beforehand!

 

[JackVk]

Pinker, Harris, etc. Are idealogues with an agenda, not scientists trying to present facts. Ask yourself this: if our thoughts are merely products of our brains, then how do we know that they are true? How do we know they are only chemical reactions? How do we know that any of our scientific anaylses are real? This is why I reject materialism/ atheism: it is a self-refuting worldview.

 

[Safia]

my question is that, is it truly that as humankind is currently understood , are we not anything but biological robots?, don’t we really have a soul, that trascends our limited body ?

The answer to this question is simple: yes, this is the modern view of the atheistic scientist.

While undergoing a period of my own atheism/agnosticism, I fought with this question tremendously, but taking on the mindset of “I can’t even know myself” never offered me any peace: my own body rejected this notion.

Two books that helped me tremendously were “The Heart” by Dietrich von Hildebrand and “The Abode of Love” by A. A. A. Terruwe, M.D. Both make, in radically different ways, and indirectly, the argument against the secular understanding of the human body, human emotion, and love. Love is Christ, and I, at least, experience Christ personally, and only the religious framework is able to articulate the experience – I don’t recognize the truth of my own existence in any of the science provided, however it seeks to categorize.

 

[tonyrey]

Hello i’m new, and i just wanted to see if anyone could help me with some questions, it will be truly apprecieated

I’m sorry if this has already been posted, i tried to search for similar threads

My question, are we really free?, recently i have noticed something that has been scalating to much more than a simple trend, and that is the (at least for me incrompehensible) desire of mainstream science and many philosophers to dehumanize humanity, imposing a totally reductionistic view of mankind, people like Steven Pinker, Paul Churchland, Sam Harris, Stephen Hawking, Alex Rosenberg among many others, that seem to be pushing up the idea that neuroscience and its derivates really show that humans are merely incidentally complex apes, according to them consciousness is nothing but an illusion, mind is merely and accident in the brain and there is no such thing as free will, all we do is determined and our perception of choice is merely illusional and we are never in control of anything ( i have never understood how can they believe they are not choosing to believe that thing). This has produced a lot of doubts and frankly anguish, for if science as they pose it really gives us that picture of humans, isn’t that a direct contradiction of what catholicism has always said about us humans, that we are free, responsible, that we have a transcendent reality directly created by God?

my question is that, is it truly that as humankind is currently understood , are we not anything but biological robots?, don’t we really have a soul, that transcends our limited body ?

thanks beforehand!

Welcome to the forum!

Many scientists are not materialists because they realise that science cannot - and never will - xplain everything because it tells us nothing about the most important things in life: truth, goodness, freedom, justice and love. It is restricted to mechanistic explanation and doesn’t recognise the existence of persons or purpose or moral values or human rights.

 

[empther]

The human body is composed of the following elements:

Element------ Percent
Oxygen-------- 65
Carbon --------18
Hydrogen -----10
Nitrogen-------- 3
Calcium -------1.4
Phosphorus --1.1
Potassium —0.25
Sulfur--------- 0.25
Sodium------ 0.15
Chlorine----- 0.15
Small amounts of many other elements.

Clearly, mixing up these elements cannot result in Shakespeare’s plays, Mozart’s music, Gone With the Wind, Fourth of July celebrations, or anything else that makes people human beings rather than sheep and buffalo.

We are more than the sum of our physical parts.

 

[tonyrey]

The human body is composed of the following elements:

Element------ Percent
Oxygen-------- 65
Carbon --------18
Hydrogen -----10
Nitrogen-------- 3
Calcium -------1.4
Phosphorus --1.1
Potassium —0.25
Sulfur--------- 0.25
Sodium------ 0.15
Chlorine----- 0.15
Small amounts of many other elements.

Clearly, mixing up these elements cannot result in Shakespeare’s plays, Mozart’s music, Gone With the Wind, Fourth of July celebrations, or anything else that makes people human beings rather than sheep and buffalo.

We are more than the sum of our physical parts.

The atomistic explanation of reality reduces persons to atomic particles and reasons to causes. The unholy whole is full of holes!

 

[tonyrey]

The human body is composed of the following elements:

Element------ Percent
Oxygen-------- 65
Carbon --------18
Hydrogen -----10
Nitrogen-------- 3
Calcium -------1.4
Phosphorus --1.1
Potassium —0.25
Sulfur--------- 0.25
Sodium------ 0.15
Chlorine----- 0.15
Small amounts of many other elements.

Clearly, mixing up these elements cannot result in Shakespeare’s plays, Mozart’s music, Gone With the Wind, Fourth of July celebrations, or anything else that makes people human beings rather than sheep and buffalo.

We are more than the sum of our physical parts.

The atomistic explanation of reality reduces persons to atomic particles and reasons to causes. The unholy whole is full of holes!

 

[empther]

The atomistic explanation of reality reduces persons to atomic particles and reasons to causes. The unholy whole is full of holes!

I’ve written a story in which a “race” ( to use the term loosely ) of entities called HALs have evolved continously since the Big Bang. They become more complex by cllinging to living creatures on planets and adapting their reflexes.
The HALs develop a sophisticated system of reflexes and can do some amazing although simple things. But they never become alive, intelligent or conscious. There is no mechanism to make these things possible.

Likewise, there is no mechanism to make material beings appreciate the music of Wayne Newton and John Tesh.

 

[tonyrey]

The atomistic explanation of reality reduces persons to atomic particles and reasons to causes. The unholy whole is full of holes!

Of course it could be an illusion that we understand anything!

 

[empther]

Likewise, there is no mechanism to make material beings appreciate the music of Wayne Newton and John Tesh.

Of course it could be an illusion that we understand anything!

Is the alleged “music” of Wayne Newton and John Tesh an illusion, or do we just not understand it?

 

[Linusthe2nd]

Hello i’m new, and i just wanted to see if anyone could help me with some questions, it will be truly apprecieated

I’m sorry if this has already been posted, i tried to search for similar threads

My question, are we really free?, recently i have noticed something that has been scalating to much more than a simple trend, and that is the (at least for me incrompehensible) desire of mainstream science and many philosophers to dehumanize humanity, imposing a totally reductionistic view of mankind, people like Steven Pinker, Paul Churchland, Sam Harris, Stephen Hawking, Alex Rosenberg among many others, that seem to be pushing up the idea that neuroscience and its derivates really show that humans are merely incidentally complex apes, according to them consciousness is nothing but an illusion, mind is merely and accident in the brain and there is no such thing as free will, all we do is determined and our perception of choice is merely illusional and we are never in control of anything ( i have never understood how can they believe they are not chosing to believe that thing). This has produced a lot of doubts and frankly anguish, for if science as they pose it really gives us that picture of humans, isn’t that a direct contradiction of what catholicism has always said about us humans, that we are free, responsible, that we have a trascendent reality directly created by God?

my question is that, is it truly that as humankind is currently understood , are we not anything but biological robots?, don’t we really have a soul, that trascends our limited body ?

thanks beforehand!

vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church

St Paul after debating with the Atheneans said, " …from now on I will teach Christ and Him Cruxcified…"

Yes, we are a composit of body and soul ( spritual) made by God who loves us and created us to know, love, and serve Him in this life and spend eternity with Him in the next. Don’t you pity all those positivists?