Event Title
Folk Intuitions About Human Nature Among Nonreductive Physicalist Christians
Location
Haughey Hall, Science Complex
Start Date
25-10-2014 11:15 AM
End Date
25-10-2014 11:45 AM
Description
Recent work at the intersection of social psychology and experimental philosophy has examined folk intuitions or lay beliefs about a number of philosophical issues, including free will. These discussions are important, because they take place in the context of the popularization of a particularly reductionist form of physicalism—one that restricts free will and conscious experience to mere convenient illusions. A few studies and commentators have gone so far as to suggest that while we (the notionally unified cognitive scientists and philosophers) might ‘know’ that there is no real agentive consciousness or free will, we should not tell anyone else, as morality may suffer in the face of a putative illusory subjective experience. On the other hand, rather than primitive and limited notions, social psychology and experimental philosophy paint a picture of rich folk intuitions that—at least in some cases—are at ease with complex tensions. What of Christians who as a group espouse a doctrine of nonreductive physicalism in contrast to a popularized reductive physicalism and a normative Christian dualism? I will report on some recent work characterizing folk intuitions among physicalist Christians.
Folk Intuitions About Human Nature Among Nonreductive Physicalist Christians
Haughey Hall, Science Complex
Recent work at the intersection of social psychology and experimental philosophy has examined folk intuitions or lay beliefs about a number of philosophical issues, including free will. These discussions are important, because they take place in the context of the popularization of a particularly reductionist form of physicalism—one that restricts free will and conscious experience to mere convenient illusions. A few studies and commentators have gone so far as to suggest that while we (the notionally unified cognitive scientists and philosophers) might ‘know’ that there is no real agentive consciousness or free will, we should not tell anyone else, as morality may suffer in the face of a putative illusory subjective experience. On the other hand, rather than primitive and limited notions, social psychology and experimental philosophy paint a picture of rich folk intuitions that—at least in some cases—are at ease with complex tensions. What of Christians who as a group espouse a doctrine of nonreductive physicalism in contrast to a popularized reductive physicalism and a normative Christian dualism? I will report on some recent work characterizing folk intuitions among physicalist Christians.
Comments
Karl Bailey received his PhD in psychology, with a specialization in cognitive science, from Michigan State University. He has taught at Andrews University since 2004, and has directed the Behavioral Neuroscience Program since 2011. Bailey is one of the most active undergraduate research mentors on campus, supervising over 100 individual projects since arriving at Andrews. He and his students are currently working on problems in visual cognition, internalization of religious behavior, and cognitive load.