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Reply 1
Original post by Imastudenthelpme
So, basically, straight to the point -
Are we just a make up of veins and organs and hormones? Is there nothing more to us? How do we have emotions then? Do u believe we have a soul? Is the brain and heart the main things that conttol us?

We are physically just a collection of organic compounds. All the evidence suggests that our consciousness is just a function of the electro-chemical activity in physical brain.
The heart does not control us at all. That is done by the brain and the endocrine system.
Reply 2
We have no soul if you consider it spiritual, we are a bag of chemicals having delusions.
Reply 3
Original post by Imastudenthelpme
So, basically, straight to the point -
Are we just a make up of veins and organs and hormones? Is there nothing more to us? How do we have emotions then? Do u believe we have a soul? Is the brain and heart the main things that conttol us?

This is a complicated question. We are indeed simply a collection of organs, cells, atoms etc. but we have the unique quality of having consciousness, which separates us from the rest of creation. I wouldn't call this a soul, because a soul implies a supernatural human essence which survives the death of the human body, but we have a soul of sorts.

Imagine it like this: nature builds new platforms on top of existing ones. Upon the atomic order is built the chemical order, upon the chemical order is built the biological order, and upon the biological order is built the social order. Each new order surpasses the previous one, not just in quantity, in scale, but in quality. The social order is the highest order of being, and it regulates the previous orders of being. For example, one has children, bit one does not eat those children, one rears them socially according to rules etc. This is quite impossible for an animal, who rears their children only according to biological imperatives that were created over millions of years.

The social order is an entirely distinct order of being which is not reducible to the previous biological order. This social order gives human beings their unique capacity for language, consciousness and society, and it is from and through that society that human beings attain what they are, their distinct personality etc.
Reply 4
No soul, no. I don't do essentialism
Reply 5
Original post by Jingo7
we have the unique quality of having consciousness, which separates us from the rest of creation.

Are you really claiming that no other species possesses "consciousness"?


Imagine it like this: nature builds new platforms on top of existing ones. Upon the atomic order is built the chemical order, upon the chemical order is built the biological order, and upon the biological order is built the social order. Each new order surpasses the previous one, not just in quantity, in scale, but in quality. The social order is the highest order of being, and it regulates the previous orders of being.

The social order is an entirely distinct order of being which is not reducible to the previous biological order. This social order gives human beings their unique capacity for language, consciousness and society, and it is from and through that society that human beings attain what they are, their distinct personality etc.

There is far more interaction between your "orders" than this. Biology relies on chemistry. Society is partly shaped by bio-chemistry.

And how does the social order regulate the atomic, chemical and biological orders?

For example, one has children, bit one does not eat those children, one rears them socially according to rules etc. This is quite impossible for an animal, who rears their children only according to biological imperatives that were created over millions of years.

Not eating your offspring long predates social groups.
Also, many species have social groups that exhibit rules.

Did you just make all that stuff up or do you have a source?
Original post by Bio 7
We have no soul if you consider it spiritual, we are a bag of chemicals having delusions.

🤯🤯 i am going to overthink this a lot
Original post by QE2
We are physically just a collection of organic compounds. All the evidence suggests that our consciousness is just a function of the electro-chemical activity in physical brain.
The heart does not control us at all. That is done by the brain and the endocrine system.

So we are just controlled by the chemical functions in our brain? Thats it? Thats so disappointing. We're just chemicals and a brain.
Original post by Jingo7
This is a complicated question. We are indeed simply a collection of organs, cells, atoms etc. but we have the unique quality of having consciousness, which separates us from the rest of creation. I wouldn't call this a soul, because a soul implies a supernatural human essence which survives the death of the human body, but we have a soul of sorts.

Imagine it like this: nature builds new platforms on top of existing ones. Upon the atomic order is built the chemical order, upon the chemical order is built the biological order, and upon the biological order is built the social order. Each new order surpasses the previous one, not just in quantity, in scale, but in quality. The social order is the highest order of being, and it regulates the previous orders of being. For example, one has children, bit one does not eat those children, one rears them socially according to rules etc. This is quite impossible for an animal, who rears their children only according to biological imperatives that were created over millions of years.

The social order is an entirely distinct order of being which is not reducible to the previous biological order. This social order gives human beings their unique capacity for language, consciousness and society, and it is from and through that society that human beings attain what they are, their distinct personality etc.

Thats really interesting. So maybe it's our society that is the main component of making us a human?
Reply 9
Original post by Imastudenthelpme
So we are just controlled by the chemical functions in our brain? Thats it? Thats so disappointing. We're just chemicals and a brain.

That's what the evidence suggests.
Why do you find that disappointing? I find it amazing.
And what's even more amazing is that we can control the electro chemical activity in the brain, sometimes with incredibly enjoyable results.
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by Imastudenthelpme
Thats really interesting. So maybe it's our society that is the main component of making us a human?

Society is definitely a component in determining how we behave - but conversely, the way we behave has had a major impact on determining the nature of society.
Brains give us emotions. Brains are (dismissing philosophical arguments that don't use science as evidence) just a mass of neuron connections and grey and white matter with chemical processes. I think (and slightly biased) that that is beautiful. The fact that we can think, feel, love, be scared from a big grey lump in our skull is amazing.
Reply 12
There is nothing more fantastic in the universe than the human brain, not only for what it is but for what it does in generating thoughts in their immaterial capacity. A lump of self-aware matter delivering something of a totally immaterial nature, not even that stirs the atheistic crowd. It's just a lump, they say. Nothing would ever move such people, nothing at all.
Thread should be titled natural or supernatural?
Reply 14
Original post by z-hog
There is nothing more fantastic in the universe than the human brain, not only for what it is but for what it does in generating thoughts in their immaterial capacity. A lump of self-aware matter delivering something of a totally immaterial nature, not even that stirs the atheistic crowd. It's just a lump, they say. Nothing would ever move such people, nothing at all.

What are you on about? Atheists, materialists, rationalists, etc are regularly "moved" by things.
I find the brain amazing. Similarly magnificent sunsets, remarkable artistic talent, the feeling of love... but that doesn't mean that I don't understand them. Amazing, marvellous, moving things can be entirely natural.
Reply 15
Original post by QE2
I find the brain amazing. Similarly magnificent sunsets, remarkable artistic talent, the feeling of love... but that doesn't mean that I don't understand them. Amazing, marvellous, moving things can be entirely natural.

Yes, that's the sort of thing that moves atheists alright. What they don't seem to understand, or perhaps appreciate, is that none of those things matches a thought-factory like the brain for greatness. A magnificent sunset only exists in the brain, for starters. Never mind...
Reply 16
Original post by z-hog
Yes, that's the sort of thing that moves atheists alright. What they don't seem to understand, or perhaps appreciate, is that none of those things matches a thought-factory like the brain for greatness. A magnificent sunset only exists in the brain, for starters. Never mind...

You said that nothing would move an atheist. I showed that you were wrong.
Now you are claiming that your opinion on what is "moving" trumps everyone else's, which seems like a foolishly subjective assertion to make. To a consultant neurosurgeon who deals with the intricacies of the brain on a daily basis, a sunset or a well played solo or the laughter of his young child may be far more moving. It is not your place to insist it isn't, and simply by doing so you show that you don't really understand the issue.
I find it strange to think that our whole existence is a simulated reality created by our brain.
Reply 18
Original post by QE2
You said that nothing would move an atheist. I showed that you were wrong.
Now you are claiming that your opinion on what is "moving" trumps everyone else's, which seems like a foolishly subjective assertion to make. To a consultant neurosurgeon who deals with the intricacies of the brain on a daily basis, a sunset or a well played solo or the laughter of his young child may be far more moving. It is not your place to insist it isn't, and simply by doing so you show that you don't really understand the issue.

I'm not going to spend time arguing it, you can have it. I think the human brain is pretty special, you don't and that's it.
Reply 19
Original post by Imastudenthelpme
So, basically, straight to the point -
Are we just a make up of veins and organs and hormones?

Some people are just that but not everyone.

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