Objections to mind entity theory: Mays excerpt #15

The Mays write: Most philosophers and scientists reject interactionist dualist theories, like our mind entity theory, because it would be impossible for a nonmaterial mind to interact with a physical brain. The predominant view, physicalism, considers consciousness and the mind to be purely the result of physical brain processes.

Philosophers reject dualist theories because they are “obscure” and “mysterious”. Philosopher John Martin Fischer commented on nonphysical mechanisms of consciousness:

"[I]t is mysterious how these [nonphysical mental] mechanisms are supposed to work, and, specifically, how they would interact with the physical world. ... Causation implies a mechanism, understanding causation implies understanding the mechanism, and the mechanism of interaction across the physical and nonphysical realms is obscure—perhaps essentially so."

However, there is strong evidence that the out-of-body mind interacts with physical processes giving rise to subjective phenomenal sensations in the NDEr’s mind. And there is evidence that a subtle, previously unrecognized two-way force is involved in mind-to-matter interactions.

Furthermore, the proposed mechanism for mind-brain interactions involves:

A point of contact for the mind to interface with the brain—in the apical dendrites of the outer layers of the cortex, and

A push-pull force at the mind-brain interface—(a) the mind triggers neural action potentials by opening dendritic ion channels to impress mental content on brain regions, and (b) backward propagation of action potentials brings sensory and mental content to awareness.

Three specific challenges to interactionist dualism

The notion that the mind as a “thing” is a category error

British philosopher Gilbert Ryle famously objected to the notion that the mind is a thing or substance that can unite with the brain and body (as a “ghost in the machine”), arguing that it is an error to treat the mind as an object because the “mind” is simply the collection of a person’s dispositions and capacities resulting from brain activity. As such, minds are in a different category from physical objects like brains.

However, NDEs provide strong empirical evidence that the mind entity is an objectively real thing. In particular, the NDEr’s nonmaterial out-of-body mind can be seen by others. While out-of-body, all of the NDEr’s dispositions and capacities are embodied in the mind and are even enhanced—independent of the physical brain and body. Furthermore, NDErs consistently report reuniting with the physical body and existing within it. Therefore, the nonmaterial mind is in the same category as physical objects—the mind is an objectively real thing and unites with the brain and body. The NDEr’s dispositions and capacities are not the result of brain activity but are embodied in the mind, both “in-body” and “out-of-body.”

The causal pairing problem

An important objection to interactionist dualism comes from the original description of the mind by René Descartes. For Descartes, the mind is an immaterial thing that does not exist in physical space and has no dimensions. The “pairing problem” questions how a nonmaterial mind that exists outside physical space can causally interact with a physical object (like a brain). Any causal interaction must occur in spatial relation to the physical object.

In contrast to Descartes’s theory, the mind entity theory holds that a nonmaterial mind is an extended three-dimensional object in physical space which can merge fully and pair with a physical brain and body. The mind and brain are located in intimate spatial relation to one another and exert direct causal interaction with each other. The mind entity theory thus addresses the objections posed by the “causal pairing problem.”

In philosophy, “physical causal closure” states that all physical states have pure physical causes or that physical effects have only physical causes. If one traces the “causal ancestry” of a physical event, one need never go outside the physical domain.

In our theory, the mind is nonmaterial but interacts with physical processes and thus takes part in physical causation. In particular the mind interfaces with the brain at specific points of contact in the apical dendrites at the surface of the cortex. A two-way push-pull force is involved in mind-to-matter interactions. The mind triggers neural action potentials to open dendritic ion channels and senses the backward propagation of action potentials. Therefore, the mind entity theory satisfies the “causal closure of the physical.”

A skeptical philosopher can argue that the mind entity is not a physical entity, that is, it is not recognized by current physics theory. More specifically, the mind entity embodies mental properties, which are dubious as physical properties. In both cases, we respond that the domain of physical reality and specifically the domain of physics need to be extended to include the existence of mind entities and their properties.

We suspect that many philosophers and scientists fear that any departure from physicalist explanations of NDEs jumps directly to supernaturalism. On the contrary, the mind entity theory is hardly a leap into supernaturalism. The insights derived from NDE phenomena lead to a generalized, coherent explanation of NDEs and in-body neurological processes. We will show that our theory permits the development of a theory that extends the current physicalist naturalism to include nonmaterial entities, forces, and interactions.

Robert G. Mays, BSc and Suzanne B. Mays, AA,  “There is no death: Near-death experience evidence for survival after permanent bodily death.” An essay written for the 2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies addressing the question: “What Is The Best Available Evidence For The Survival Of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death?” Footnotes are omitted from these excerpts but are in the full text available from the Bigelow website at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php.