A singularly powerful and rigorous argument in favor of modern substance dualism
In The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs.
The authors present the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and rigorous non-edited work on substance dualism in the field, as well as a detailed history of how property and substance dualism have been presented and evaluated over the last 150 years. Alongside developing new and updated positive arguments for substance dualism, they also discuss key metaphysical notions and distinctions that inform the examination of substance dualism and its alternatives.
Readers will also find:
- A thorough examination of the recent shift away from standard physicalism and the renaissance of substance dualism
- Comprehensive explorations of the likely future of substance dualism in the twenty-first century, including an exhaustive list of proposed research projects for substance dualists
- Practical discussion of new and rigorous critiques of significant physicality alternatives, including emergentism and panpsychism.
- Extensive treatments of philosophy of mind debates about the roles played by staunch/faint-hearted naturalism and theism in establishing or presuming methodology, epistemic priorities, and prior metaphysical commitments
Perfect for professional philosophers, The Substance of Consciousness will also earn a place in the libraries of consciousness researchers, philosophical theologians, and religious studies scholars.
Praise for The Substance of Consciousness
"Though most materialists don't know it, we're in the midst of a renaissance of intellectually serious substance dualism thirty years in the making. This book will push the crest of that dualist wave even higher. Materialists who hope to resist have our work cut out for us."
-Andrew M. Bailey, Yale-NUS College
"Rickabaugh and Moreland have produced a tour de force in this brilliant, systematic case for contemporary forms of substance dualism. It is a treasure trove of arguments, objections, and replies that should be required reading in philosophy of mind today."
-Charles Taliaferro, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, St. Olaf College
"This is a stunning book. Rickabaugh and Moreland marshal a formidable phalanx of arguments for substance dualism as an account of consciousness and various aspects of the soul/mind and body relation."
-C. Stephen Evans, Emeritus University Professor, Baylor University and Professorial Research Fellow, University of Notre Dame Australia
"Can we explain the unity of consciousness, or our continuity over time, without the postulation of a simple, immaterial entity as the seat of human consciousness? Materialists and panpsychists hope we can, but The Substance of Consciousness raises powerful challenges to all of these attempts to explain the human mind 'on the cheap.' Anyone working on the philosophy of consciousness needs to confront these arguments and work out how to respond. It's not easy!"
-Philip Goff, Durham University
In The Substance of Consciousness, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs.
An essential and ground-breaking work for consciousness researchers, philosophical theologians, and religious studies scholars, The Substance of Consciousness is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and rigorous non-edited work on substance dualism in the field.
