Materialism and the death of Reason

Materialism and the death of reason

Quotes and comments;

1. 'Can the totality of the brain be described in terms of its neurons? Is consciousness an artifact of the movement of signals in the brain? Can the complexity of the brain be described in terms of its evolutionary history? Does the hardware define the software that runs on it? György Buzsáki attempted to address these questions from an evolutionary standpoint in a “Connections” essay in Nature.

- There are many problems with the materialist/evolutionary view of man; and one of the biggest is the question of 'what is reason'? Materialists like to use the word reason, and do so with reckless abandon - but what is it? Recent research in neurobiology makes the old problem much deeper, much more complicated. If there is no mind, as many Materialists now claim, and all we have is the 'firing' of neurons, what is reason? We don't hear many attempts at answering this question.

- The argument against Christianity (so popular among tenured professors) and creation is usually couched as an argument from 'reason' against 'superstition' - so if there is no such thing as reason this 'argument' falls flat on its face.

- So we ask the materialist, what is this 'reason' you keep talking about? We really need an answer on this... but I don't think materialists have one. (Is it just the bile of the brain as some have said? If so, why should anyone pay any attention to this bile?)

Again we see how the 'new atheism' hasn't been able to integrate the new findings from scientific research. It's really a worldview that is very old; and one rooted in a non-intelligent view of the universe. (i.e. in a view that doesn't require intelligent design.)

Notes;
1. Reference; Questions to Ask a Reductionist Neurobiologist 03/21/2007 (Evolution and Creation Headlines)
'Can the totality of the brain be described in terms of its neurons? Is consciousness an artifact of the movement of signals in the brain? Can the complexity of the brain be described in terms of its evolutionary history? Does the hardware define the software that runs on it? György Buzsáki attempted to address these questions from an evolutionary standpoint in a “Connections” essay in Nature last week.
2. Definitions of reason;
A. 'the capacity to reflect, analyze and think in an orderly and logical manner as opposed to an Irrational and Emotional manner. - Hexham
B. 'The intellectual ability to apprehend the truth cognitively, either immediately in intuition, or by means of a process of inference. - FOLDOP
- if this is what we mean by reason; then if you accept the claims of the evolutionary neurobiogists, reason doesn't exist. (And it's just another victim of reductionism.)
3. A brief example of 'neuro talk' (by Buzsaki)
“The interaction and interference of multiple brain rhythms often gives rise to the appearance of ‘noise’ in an electroencephalogram. This noise is the most complex type known to physics and reflects a metastable state between the predictable behavior of oscillators and the unpredictability of chaos.”