Philosophy vs the Cosmological Argument

Philosophy can help guide an individual to a better understanding of what their beliefs are by allowing for the study of different points of view such as David Hume and William Paley, then moving on to discover what feels right for you.

I choose an agnostic position because there is no religion or science that will ever be able to prove the existence or non- existence of a supreme being or beings. Philosophy helped contribute to my Agnostic belief by using logic to break down and compartmentalize different ways of thinking. Through my philosophical studies, I have found that the powers of reason and logic can only take you so far. For instance, after studying all of the different philosophical perspectives on the Cosmological and Design Arguments, I have been reminded of “ I think, therefore I am.” This has led me to the conclusion that we are all right. Therefore, if you are atheist, religious, not religious or not religious but spiritual, your world is what your mind makes of it that makes it true.

Some say that faith has no role in a philosophical argument, however I think by questioning your faith you can remain open to what life may have to teach you and make steps toward your personal truth.

Artificial Intelligence, Feelings and Choices

I am in agreement with philosopher John Searl when it comes to artificial intelligence. There is a belief that exists however that humans are programmed by society and education to perform certain tasks which can include learning to speak a language or very simply brush your teeth. The difference between the programming of artificial intelligence and programming of a society or humans is that we have a choice and we have feelings. We have a choice to stop and think before we act. A computer just simply responds as quickly as it can. It may come up with the right answer to very logically based questions, but it cannot think about whether it is right or wrong scientifically or morally for that matter. Humans can be programmed as children just like a computer ( go to church, go to school, don’t watch too much tv,) but when the child becomes an adult, they may choose to learn new ways of being in the world. My second point is feelings.  How would a computer know what something feels like? It only knows the information that it’s told. Sometimes for example when it comes to feeling love or not we have no real control. Where does this come from? What is it? I believe it is much more than just a mental state that produces a function. These things we call feelings such as love, will never be felt by artificial intelligence. 

"Keeping the Mind Theory" ( by Krystal Stone) as related to Dualism

There are significant scientific truths in regards to the mind body connection in Physicalism. I am in agreement with the fact that there is a connection with the brain, mind and body within the means of our physical existence. There is no denying that science is finding out more ways to understand the brain and how it works such as how and where interactions occur in the brain. One example of a degenerative brain disease that may relate to the mind body theory and the ideas of dualism and physicalism  is Alzheimer's Disease. In relation to physicalism, I think that the more science knows about why the degeneration that is happening in the brain, the more we can help the physical brain and body "keep the mind." However, this leads me to my disagreement with physicalism and my agreement with dualism. I think physicalism is based on trying to understand the mind as it relates to the brain which I think will never be fully understood in our physical existence. We may only figure out ways for the body not to loose consciousness. A patient diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's disease is experiencing rapid degeneration of the parts of the brain that allows them to "keep their mind" which leads to the patients loss of most or all of their consciousness. My belief is my own, which  I call "Keeping the Mind" theory in which the patients' "mind" or "consciousness" is not fully leaving the body and therefore hanging between the physical and non-physical. The physical as understood by science and logic is true but the non-physical can never be understood. We have mind when connected to the body or our brain which is a part of the body, but once our physical neurological functions begin to fail we loose our mind and consciousness begins to leave our body. There is no way to prove this "keeping the mind" theory by science but I believe it is the difference between mind-body and consciousness and therefore, I am a dualist.