The body/soul gap
Human beings are dualists from the start, developmental psychologist Paul Bloom argues in Edge: The Third Culture.We believe in our bodies as things, and we believe in our "selves" as an ephemeral entity separate from our bodies.
Such dualism might be learned, Bloom says. But he believes it's a by-product of two separate "systems of core-knowledge--knowledge of the material world and knowledge of the self/soul/mind.
And those systems of core-knowledge have important consequences for moral reasoning:
- When we conceive of another person primarily as a soul, we tend to care more about that person.
- When we conceive of another person primarily as a body, it's easier to feel disgust toward that person and thus exclude him/her/similar others from our circle of care.
Bloom seems to be a materialist. He believes biology [and brain science] can account for all of human being, that mental life originates in our physiology.
But he also believes the every-day, common-sense gap between body and soul won't go away, even if it can be scientifically disproven.
This prompts me to wonder: If Bloom is correct, would we want our body/mind dualism to go away?
If body/mind dualism is implicated in moral reasoning as Bloom contends, we might do well as pastoral theologians to think of it as an intentional part of God's creation--serving an important and pragmatic role in culture, religion, and the realization of the commonwealth of God, to use a Christian metaphor.
Theologically, I don't much like body/soul dualism when carried to extremes. But Bloom might have described one of its important functions in the physical and mental life of humanity.
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, August 31, 2004