What if faith is mere brain chemistry?

[Quintessence]

Well, Remté? Are you or are you not willing to be an adherent of scientism? If so, you'll be perfectly okay having "Science" dictate the be-all and end-all of Truth to you and only listen to those perspectives. You'll be okay reducing the human understanding of everything because "Science says so" and ignore all other narratives that have been uttered throughout history. If that is your path, so be it, yeah?

Personally, I understand too much about the sciences (in particular, what they are and are not, and the limits of it as a way of knowing) and have too much of an appreciation of other ways of knowing to walk that path. I understand that the only story the sciences could tell is that "faith is mere brain chemistry." That doesn't mean faith is "mere brain chemistry." Human experiences frequently transcend and make irrelevant such things.

 

[viole]

But there are other psychological factors.

You mean psychological factors that are not brain chemistry?

Ciao

- viole

 

[Polymath257]

But there are other psychological factors.

Such as? Do you have any example of such a factor that is NOT a brain phenomenon?

 

[viole]

No. Evidence is in that with the exception of some abnormal individuals every single human has certain same qualities regardless of their environment.

So, where did faith in Apollo come from, in your opinion? If not the environment, not brain chemistry,...., then what?

Apollo?

Ciao

- viole

 

[Remté]

Such as? Do you have any example of such a factor that is NOT a brain phenomenon?

Brain phenomenon? Earlier you said "result of brain chemistry". Other psychological factors; past experiences and circumstance.

 

[Quintessence]

Brain phenomenon? Earlier you said "result of brain chemistry". Other psychological factors; past experiences and circumstance.

I think the word you might be looking for is gestalt. The human experience of life and living is greater than the sum of its parts. You do not believe in scientism's reduction of this down to only what science says (which is, ironically, an unscientific approach to the topic). Is that essentially correct?

 

[Polymath257]

Brain phenomenon? Earlier you said "result of brain chemistry". Other psychological factors; past experiences and circumstance.

Memories and the senses are determined by the chemistry of the processes involved. Yes, all brain phenomena are the results of chemistry and physics.

 

[Nous]

Hm. "Cannot find it". What does that mean exactly?

Is it like that you cannot find music in a thumb drive?

I would say your simile is correct.

 

[Audie]

I would say your simile is correct.

Huh. And here I thought it was a metagory.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

That theory has holes in it. Faith itself cannot be called brain chemistry. There is only one God. Faith in things and animals is naturally in man.

Claim made without evidence. IF there were ONE? As unlikely as that is-- the odds of there being ONLY one? Is even more unlikely.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Brain chemistry affects everything. With some things - like with love - the scientists aren't sure how much it affects and exactly how on each way, but they are sure it has a significant effect.

What if one day they find out that having faith in God - or lack thereof, as ever you like to look at it - is only a consequence of a certain type of brain chemistry?

If that is the case then you would have to allocate the neural activity in relation to other beliefs because surely God or gods is not the causal factor of neural chemistry.

 

[Remté]

Memories and the senses are determined by the chemistry of the processes involved. Yes, all brain phenomena are the results of chemistry and physics.

Memories and senses affect the chemistry.

 

[Remté]

Claim made without evidence. IF there were ONE? As unlikely as that is-- the odds of there being ONLY one? Is even more unlikely.

Claim made without reason?^

 

[George-ananda]

Brain chemistry affects everything. With some things - like with love - the scientists aren't sure how much it affects and exactly how on each way, but they are sure it has a significant effect.

What if one day they find out that having faith in God - or lack thereof, as ever you like to look at it - is only a consequence of a certain type of brain chemistry?

It almost sounds like your question is headed to the old determinism road where everything that happens including brain behavior is just atoms and electrons following natural law.

If that were proven true then the universe and us become much less interesting and to me more pointless and depressing.

To me the greatest argument against determinism is my conclusion from my studies of the paranormal that consciousness is something not even dependent on a brain but rather temporarily incarnates a brain.

 

[Nakosis]

Brain chemistry affects everything. With some things - like with love - the scientists aren't sure how much it affects and exactly how on each way, but they are sure it has a significant effect.

What if one day they find out that having faith in God - or lack thereof, as ever you like to look at it - is only a consequence of a certain type of brain chemistry?

I've always presumed that the amount of religious "faith" one might feel is a matter of how a person's brain is wired.

"Brain chemistry" seems to be affected by exposure to ideas. If one is exposed to a community of the faithful it's likely that having religious faith will seem to become a reasonable position. If one is exposed to non-religious ideas, then this will come to seem the more reasonable position to hold.

The subconscious mind if funny like that. Beneath one's conscious awareness the subconscious mind take in all of this input of ideas and this with enough exposure this will begin to percolate to the conscious mind as feelings. So consciously we may not be exactly aware of the source of these feelings but we feel what we feel and this is what mainly drives our conscious thinking.

 

[Nakosis]

Hm. "Cannot find it". What does that mean exactly?

Is it like that you cannot find music in a thumb drive?

As I would put it, it's on the thumb drive the conscious self can't directly access but the subconscious mind has complete access to.

So the subconscious mind will play a song and consciously a person will wonder "Where the heck is that music coming from".

 

[Audie]

As I would put it, it's on the thumb drive the conscious self can't directly access but the subconscious mind has complete access to.

So the subconscious mind will play a song and consciously a person will wonder "Where the heck is that music coming from".

I just could not go to sleep last night, and so I turned on the
radio, to Coast to Coast".

Apparently that put me to sleep ok.


Then I was dreaming about getting into an argument
with some big aggressive guy over evolution.

I woke up, and on the radio was some guy explaining why
evolution is wrong.

Like, "multicellular animals started, how, two amoebas
bump into eachother and say, 'let's join up'?"

 

[Polymath257]

Memories and senses affect the chemistry.

And vice versa.

 

[Remté]

And vice versa.

Yes.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Claim made without reason?^

Possibly. As long as you realize that your prior claim was one without reason.