Joshua R. Farris

Joshua R. Farris is a Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellow and Visiting Researcher at the Ruhr Universität Bochum. He is also Visiting Professor at Missional University and London School of Theology. Previously, he was the Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor at Mundelein Seminary, University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Fellow at The Creation Project, and Fellow at Heythrop College. He has taught at several universities in philosophy, theology, and Great Books. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in a variety of journals in philosophy, philosophy of religion, analytic theology, systematic theology, historical theology, and interdisciplinary studies. He founded and oversees the Design-Theology Project. He is also published in The Imaginative Conservative, The Christian Post, The American Mind, Mere Orthodoxy, The Worldview Bulletin, Prosblogion, Spiritual Media Blog, Faithlife and Essentia Foundation among others. He has recently completed a new monograph entitled The Creation of Self.

Archives

Consciousness Blurs the Line Between Philosophy and Science

In contrast to the New Age emphasis on self-realization as an end in itself, the theistic approach sees self-awareness as a gateway to understanding our dependence on the divine
This inward journey reveals how consciousness is not only about understanding ourselves but about understanding reality itself.

A Case for the Soul: An Interview with Joshua Farris

Is the mind the same thing as the brain? Recently, we’ve been tackling this question known as the mind-brain problem with several of the contributing authors to our recent book Minding the Brain. In a similar fashion, we can also ask if there’s more to the human person than just our bodies. This week we have neurosurgeon Michael Egnor talking about these very questions with philosopher Joshua Farris. In his book The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul, Farris defends a view of personhood that requires human beings to be immaterial soul substances, or “neo-Cartesian” substance dualists. Farris situates this view in the broader context of ongoing debates about consciousness, personhood, and the nature of humanity in relation to artificial intelligence

Why Creationism Isn’t So Crazy After All

A case for the soul’s design
If materialism fails to account for the origin of the soul, then creationism—not as a fringe theory, but as a viable explanation—deserves serious consideration.

The Impact of Descartes on the Philosophy of Mind

On this episode out of the vault, neuroscientist Dr. Michael Egnor welcomes Dr. Joshua Farris for a discussion about his recent published paper “Descartes’ New Clothes: Cartesian Thought in Philosophy, Neuroscience and Theism.” Descartes is famous for his dictum “I think, therefore I am.” Farris and Egnor discuss this statement and its implications for the mind-body debate. They also talk about Descartes’s dualism and how it has influenced later debates in philosophy and science. Farris also comments on the theological implications of Descartes’s work and the continuing relevance of his ideas in contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind and neuroscience. Additional Resources Descartes’ New Clothes: Cartesian Thought in

New Podcast Asks, Is the World Really Enchanted—or Disenchanted?

At Created Souls and The Banquet of Souls, I want to explore the fact that human consciousness is not about to be made obsolete by AI or explained away by neuroscience
The tide is turning. The idea that science will soon explain away human consciousness is ceasing to be a live discussion. Let’s hear the new discussions!

No, Chatbots Are Not Conscious 

The arguments in favor of computer consciousness remain weak
In the midst of all the chatter surrounding AI and chatbots, one might be led to believe that the concepts of consciousness or even the soul, let alone the afterlife, are simply relics of outdated beliefs. This sentiment is often echoed by some scientists, raising the question: Is this truly the case? And should we readily accept this perspective? In a recent episode of Mindscape, renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist Raphael Millerie, who boasts an Oxford education and is now a fellow at the Center of Science and Society, teamed up with Sean Carroll, a prominent theoretical physicist known for debunking notions of the soul and the afterlife, to delve into the world of chatbots and AI (see episode 230). Carroll, who has long asserted that concepts like souls and the afterlife

Defending Why We’re More than Machines

We need to look beyond materialism to understand what it means to be human.
If something like dualism is true, then it goes a long way to showing the implausibility of the idea that we are solely meat machines, robots, etc.

Body & Soul: Joshua Farris and The Creation of Self

How does the body contribute to the soul? On today’s episode, host Michael Egnor and theologian Dr. Joshua Farris discuss the implications of a neo-Cartesian understanding of the human soul on divisive cultural issues such as transgenderism and abortion. Farris, author of the recent book The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul, argues that the body supplies certain controls and powers to the soul, and that separating the body from the soul would do harm to the soul. He also addresses the question of when ensoulment occurs in human development and explores the idea of switching souls among identical twins and the challenges it poses to philosophies of mind-body dualism. He concludes by discussing the rise in popularity of metaphysical theories and their connection to cultural

Science of Consciousness: The Elephant in the Room

Science has had great success in explaining many functions of living organisms in purely material terms. So why not consciousness?
After repeated failures to explain consciousness, there’s a new path in the science of consciousness that promises to be the final theory of consciousness.