Science Uprising 02: Mind
Are we simply robots made out of meat? Or is there an inescapable “I” who makes real choices that can change our lives? This episode of Science Uprising (Mind: The Inescapable I) challenges claims by materialists like Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett that humans are simply robots without free will. Be sure to visit scienceuprising.com to find more Read More ›
Samurai Bioethics
Are We Spiritual Machines?
For two hundred years materialist philosophers have argued that man is some sort of machine. The claim began with French materialists of the Enlightenment such as Pierre Cabanis, Julien La Mettrie, and Baron d’Holbach (La Mettrie even wrote a book titled Man the Machine). Likewise contemporary materialists like Marvin Minsky, Daniel Dennett, and Patricia Churchland claim that the motions and Read More ›
C. S. Lewis and the Materialist Menace
The following is edited from an address delivered on July 15, 1996 as part of the annual C. S. Lewis Institute at Seattle Pacific University. The author would like to thank Prof. Michael Macdonald for his encouragement and for inviting the author to present the lecture. During the summer of 1932, Oxford don C. S. Lewis traveled to Ireland to Read More ›
Converting Matter into Mind
Introduction In the Foundations of Cognitive Science Herbert Simon and Craig Kaplan offer the following definition: Cognitive science is the study of intelligence and intelligent systems, with particular reference to intelligent behavior as computation. Since this definition hinges on the dual notions of intelligence and computation, it remains scientifically unobjectionable so long as one declines to prejudge the relation between Read More ›