Why is Dualism rejected by science?

Answer 1

Dualism posits a separate, but equal reality, forces which move on a spiritual plane affecting the reality we perceive. Good and evil are seen in dynamic balance. Extending to science this would give spiritual or magical reasons for observed phenomena, rather than testing hypotheses on an experiential basis. Naturally science rejects this world view.

[Cat You may be the one who's been smoking some strange cigs What you refer to as "Physicalist" is known to most students of philosophy as materialism, and is not the real basis of science's rejection of dualism, both realism and idealism are valid philosophical positions. If one is to use Ockham's razor, "Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate" or "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatum" one must understand the terms of the hypotheisis under consideration to know whether indeed all things are equal. An Englishman by the name of Hamilton came up with Ockham's razor in 1852. The principles of this nominalist position came from Dun Scotus (a fellow Franciscan writing a bit earlier that William, who only vaguely mentioned it in his commentatry on Lombard's "Sic et Non") in his "Principia Mathematica", Thomas Aquinas in "De Rerum Natura" , and ultimately Aristotle in "Metaphysics" who said there is no infinite regress. That we do not unnecessarily multiply entities does not in and of itself reject dualism, it just makes it the less likely hypothesis and therefore more easily dispensed with. Dualism shows itself to be unsatisfactory by its inability to prove a causal relationship from variant sources. Benedict Spinoza's Monism is more applicable than Ockham because of the causal relationships we observe and laws we are able to derive therefrom. Boethius is indeed wrong in his definition of dualism. Duality, two things, is not dualism, the action of separate but equal forces. Subject and object are not diametrically opposed, nor are they equivalents of each other. Dualism adds another entity to the equation, and not only another but two entities.]

Answer 2

Haha, we just talked about this yesterday in my psychology class!

Psychologically speaking, dualism is that the mind (or thoughts) is separate from the brain, but somehow controls the brain and therefore the rest of the body. However, this contradicts the law of conservation of matter and energy, one of the fundamental points of physics--the only way to influence any matter or energy is to act on it with other matter or energy. But... the "mind" is neither. So if the mind isn't composed of matter or energy... it can't do anything, according to physics.

Monism is favored by most scientists, and states that the conscious experience is inseparable from the physical brain. So the mind is either a product of the brain, or they're the same thing. That is, that the only reason you think, "I'm hungry" or "I like the color red" is because of activity in your brain. In other words, biology creates YOU, your personality, decisions, etc.

Evidence for monism is that PET scans show very different brain activity when a person is doing varying tasks. For example when a person is reading, the brain scan looks very different from when a person is riding a bike or meditating. So the question is, did the brain activity cause the mental activity (thoughts), or did the mental activity cause the brain activity? Most scientists say that brain activity and mental activity are the same thing and can't cause one another.

I don't know, did that make sense? I don't know if I explained it well...

Answer 3

At the core of Science is Occam's razor. I.e.

Duality should not be posited without necessity. OR
The simplest complete explanation is most likely true.

When science goes looking for the source of mind, it finds the brain. Brain damage appears to cause mind damage. Big human brains appear to produce more mind than little bird brains. Science concludes that mind is a function of brain.

Dualists say “No, mind is independent of brain and exists on a Spiritual plane.”
Science replies “I’ve got an organic computer, why do I need a Spiritual plane?”

Science doesn’t say “There is no Spiritual Plane.”, it simply considers the concept to be an unnecessarily, and unprovable complication in the explanation of mind.

Answer 4

You need to define Dualism, because as far as I know science accepts Dualism. ~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 5

Boethius... FYI you're trippin...

Western science feels content with maintaining its physicalist
tendencies... Physicalism says that EVERYTHING in the universe is a PHYSICAL phenomenon which is bound by the laws of physics and can be explained adequately within this paradigm.

Western science does not feel comfortable with leaving some phenomena to the non-physical realm because, well prolly because of the difficulty in interpreting the mechanism of cause-and-effect from non-physical to physical phenomena...

Sticking to a completely physicalist view, scientists can safely explore the answers to questions about the universe WITHOUT having to deal with issues of a "non-physical" cause or effect of things...

Answer 6

I doubt it is. Science is the study of one thing as it relates to another. That by definition implies duality, "two things". Any science that denies duality is denying its very means of gaining knowledge, which means you can't properly call it science.