Is There a Spirit in Man?
By Bruce RenehanNot too long ago people believed that life could spontaneously generate itself in a rather bizarre way. For instance, it was observed that after it rained, tadpoles would appear in mud puddles and then frogs would begin to emerge from the puddles and hop away. It was concluded by this observation that the combination of water and dirt (making mud) produced frogs. There were similar beliefs about why milk would go sour or why leftovers would grow mold. This superstitious belief was finally disproved by Louis Pasteur when he showed that boiling and sealing food would prevent it from becoming spoiled and, thus, there had to be a tiny microscopic factor that caused food to rot. Today we know of the existence of bacteria but its existence had to first be logically deduced. If all one has as one's authority is the Bible and the Bible authoritatively states that God created man from mud then it is easy to see why the belief that mud produces tadpoles makes sense. The modern world has produced volumes of discoveries by the use of reductionist thinking but if we were to rely on reductionism alone, we would continue to believe superstitiously about things that are not understood by their parts.
For centuries, it was assumed that humans were inherently superior to animals and that that superiority was due to the possession of a soul. It was not always stated that way. Descartes believed that the mind was not made from matter but was separate and distinct. This is the belief called dualism. Again we see the influence of the Bible on this type of thinking. It is in the Bible where Adam is told to go forth and subdue all things as if man is detached and superior to everything else on earth. It is in the Bible where we learn the concept of a spirit in man.
One Christian author claims that by using reductionist thinking the Naturalist gets into trouble. How so? Because he assumes that dualism is a given and that the Naturalist and the Nuerologist must agree with his premise. Because of his strong Christian influence, this writer can't understand how the mind could work if it didn't have this invisible element in it. He says, "If the mind is TOTALLY material then it somehow 'secretes' thought like the liver secretes bile or the heart pumps blood."
The human brain has been studied meticulously for the past two centuries. We have massive information about how it works quite independently of any non-material element that makes it human. The brain has been carefully mapped out. Neurologists can often discover where brain trauma has occurred simply by listening to how a patient talks, how a patient moves, what a patient sees, what a patient remembers, or forgets, or what mood a patient is in. If you want to learn more about neurology, a couple books I might suggest here are The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat and Awakenings.
If the mind were not a physical component, how would one explain the behavior of an Alzheimer's patient, a stroke victim, an autistic person, or a child with Down Syndrome? Do these people have defective or malfunctioning souls?
The Christian author posits, "Strange, isn't it? When Naturalism reduces all thought to mere cerebration it loses any criterion by which to judge the truth of its own assertion." In other words, it appears this author believes only spiritual essence can understand truth and it is the presence of that ethereal thing that makes it possible for a human to assert the truth. He appears to be begging the question.
Let me first explain what reductionism is: It is a way of studying things in their most simplified forms to gain an understanding of them. In chemistry, one may weigh a pound of gold and then measure its displacement to reductionistically arrive at gold's atomic weight. In mathematics, one may differentiate a formula and then reductionistically allow X to equal zero to gain a formula's maxima and minima. In reducing things to their simplest forms, we are able to understand minute characteristics but we never fully understand the whole from the part.
Most sciences now agree that there are other characteristics that are taken on by simple elements as they interact or combine in the natural environment. For instance, two deadly poisons (sodium and chloride) combine chemically to form simple table salt. In physics, one name for the unpredictability of complex events has been termed, "Chaos Theory." Another term used for the same unpredictability in nature has been called the "Uncertainty Principle." In the controlled environment of the laboratory, it is easy to predict the outcome of events. Aeronautical engineers can produce supersonic aircraft and predict how they are supposed to behave. Why is it then that so many jet aircraft crash in the real world? Because the complexity of factors like sudden wind shear cannot be predicted. So, while it is true that reductionist thinking helps us to understand certain simple phenomenon, no one in their right mind would use reductionism to explain economic theory, biology, or how the brain works.
In the study of the complexity of the mind, the process is best understood by the theory of Gestalt (pronounced guh-shtalt). The principle of Gestalt has been demonstrated over and over again and is stated as "The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts." As Perl's would describe it, "One may hold a human liver in one's hands but one is not holding the human." The study of Gestalt principles explain very clearly how the human mind works. It is very fascinating but unfortunately takes three college courses to understand: Introductory Psychology, Sensation and Perception, and Brain and Behavior.
The mystery of how things work in nature has always led to superstitious explanations. Science rules out superstition by NOT ascribing theories to events that cannot be replicated by experiment or measured in the laboratory. This is almost always done by reductionism because events become more predictable as they are reduced or deduced. But reductionism DOES NOT MEASURE THE WHOLE. Ancient people could have simply taken some sifted dirt into a laboratory and poured water into it to see that no frogs would have been produced from mud alone. This is no condemnation to the reductionist. The reductionist simplified his experiment by using the elements in his theory--dirt and water. Now, the true scientist would return to the field to look for factor X--that thing that causes tadpoles to spring forth.
In making a logical decision one either makes deductions (draws a conclusion from the general to the specific) or uses induction (draws a conclusion from specific to the general). Scientists have learned that doing this can sometimes lead to trouble because moving from the laboratory to the outside world adds complexity and uncertainty at an exponential rate.
So, do humans have a spirit to make them be humans? There is no scientific reason to support a spirit factor in the brain and the fact that brains can malfunction under a myriad of circumstances would assert that the brain is entirely physical.
We know that there are genetic factors that produce insanity. Geneticists are racing to find the gene for a disease called Huntington's Chorea. A person with the gene for this disease has a 50% chance of passing it on to their children. The gene is a neurological time bomb. The victim of this disease has no knowledge of its presence because they live a normal productive life, usually getting married and having children until about age 30 when signs of neurological damage set in. Neurological damage first displays itself in tremors in the hands and face. Eventually the victim has difficulty walking and will move spasmodically. The muscles begin to deteriorate, then finally, years of insanity before death. So, the question arises, if there is a spirit in man and that spirit produces what we call the mind, why does a neurological disease destroy the human mind when it destroys the nervous system?
For centuries it was believed that insanity was a spiritual thing called demon possession. The insane were institutionalized and chained to asylum walls. Now we know that insanity has to do with the nervous system's malfunctioning. We now know that the administering of psychotropic medications that directly effect the chemical reactions of neurons will reduce and even eliminate psychosis. So, how does one measure the spirit that is supposed to reside in humans? Where is it? It is easy to believe that mud produces frogs if you believe that God made Adam from the mud. It is easy to believe that people have spirits, if the Bible you read tells stories about spirits.
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