BEST Case for the Existence of the Soul (w/ JP Moreland) 

When my son was little, his babysitter had cerebral palsy. She was an amazing sitter & friend (still is, but he's 36 now 😊). When my son was high school age, Jenny was in a car that had a bad accident. She had head x-rays at the local hospital & discovered that SHE ONLY HAD 1/2 A BRAIN! 😮 She & her parents were so glad they didn't know this when she was little because they probably wouldn't have expected as much from her learning-wise. As it is, she graduated from normal high school classes, college bound trajectory. She has an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education, works full time as a day care director, is married with 2 grown sons - one has severe autism - and volunteers as a Special Education Advocate in the local school system. She's a true, God blessed miracle! 💖

I thank God for Dr. J P Moreland! All of these years he, like Dr. Dan Wallace, seem to be a bit under the radar among popular Christian apologist and theologians. He has been a wealth of information. Thank you so much for having him on. I am also very thankful to God for your channel.

I have a horribly painful neurological condition but the lord is putting it on my heart to pray for others first. This gives me a sense of Joy.

I’m getting into apologetics (maybe even as a career path), but as a female, I’m not sure how to move forward with it…that’s why these videos are so helpful and interesting

I love your interview style. You prepare thouroghly. You have your questions ready. You ask them and let the speaker talk, then you summarize what the speaker was saying and get his agreement before moving on to the next question. Excellent.

I could have listened to JP Moreland giving this topic for hours. The conversation was so enriching and insightful that I can’t wait to read the book. JP Moreland is my favourite philosopher. He has been willing to be loyal to the Lord not avoiding politically incorrect topics such as Miracles, NDEs and theistic evolution. He has chosen to be loyal and open to the possible ridicule of “intellectuals” in these topics rather than “intellectually acceptable”.

JP Moreland is one of my favorite people to listen to on the planet. Great interview!

I gained some clear insites from several articles written by others associated with Biola University titled, "The mind is not the brain."

This was a lot for my pea brain to take in! I enjoyed it though. Thank you.

I don't see how this guy doesn't have millions of subscribers, yet. Facinating. Excellent. Moreland's arguments are mesmerizing, hypnotic. I could not stop watching this conversation. Sean asks the best questions, who could have done better?

Interesting point about kids naturally being duelists. My 2 year old often says, "I'm going to exercise my body." I was amazed the first time she said that, wondering, "How do you know there is a difference between you and your body?" It just came naturally to her.

This is an absolutely brilliant conversation! Perhaps one of my favorite speakers you have had, Sean. I love how he speaks scientifically, but not in such a way that it's too far above the average realm of knowledge. I also love how he drew his conclusions based on a variety of subjects, including biology, chemistry, and physics. This was right up my alley - thank you to both of you!!

That was epic! Ive been watching it since it dropped all week and now it's Friday so just in time for the QnA video, I can't wait! 😃

As a sixty five year old recent graduate in philosophy, I appreciate work on defense of substance dualism. View’s shouldn’t be determined by academic consensus and pressure.

Love listening to JP Moreland! Great interview!

According to the Bible, the soul is a living breathing human or animal. Genesis 2:7. There is nothing trapped within a human called a soul waiting for a death to take a trip.

Great discussion. Great points. Thank you both for being so generous with your time.

When my Dad was dying, I was sitting next to him, holding his hand. I actually felt his soul leave his body. He was amazed and in a hurry to go. He loved the Lord Jesus.

I'm looking forward to this!

Friends, because of unforeseen circumstances, we are going to have to reschedule the interview with JP. I am so sorry, as there are some GREAT questions here. But we will pick it up again and have Dr. Moreland back on. Thanks for understanding!

Sean that was a great discussion!

Really enjoying the new intros! Blessings brother!

Great Content. Love this information .

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Great talk, love it. Perhaps the beliefs of very young children in different societies of the world should be studied more? Children seem to have some innate understanding prior to becoming influenced by others, largely through their language, they almost seem to live in a different world. My own personal experience was that something of my innocent connection with nature was lost as I grew up but I do think it is possible to regain it. Human ideas clearly evolve and ideas do have consequences…

9:30-10:30 "So the question is: how could there be such a thing as consciousness coming from brute matter, which doesn't even have the potential for consciousness?" How do you know that matter doesn't have the potential for consciousness? The hard problem of consciousness is that we don't know _why/how_ experiences accompany these physical functions. Is it not disingenuous to state that it's not possible, when we have no idea?

12:55 you've known him for almost 3 decades- that explains why he greeted you fondly as "Dr. McDowell" 😊 Very sweet

According to genesis 2:7 it is the breath of life which animates the body and causes one to be a living soul. It is Not the soul which animates the body. We do not have souls ,rather We become living souls when we have the breath of life and a body. “And God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. “. Its not biblical that we receive a soul or have a soul. In other words, we are not two components:body and soul, which can be separated . Rather when body and spirit (ruach: breath, wind, soul) are combined, we are living souls. If we have no spirit or breath in our body, we are not living souls. In fact, the Psalmist says that even our thoughts perish at death (so does Job). I think it’s extremely important for Christians to contemplate the first lie in the garden of Eden and ask themselves if they believe the serpents claim; “You will not surely die.”

I have a soul for sure!

Wonderful to listen to JP moreland again.

Nice interview! There is also talk of a Q&A around the topic of 'the soul'. When is this episode scheduled for? Looking forward to it!

I love brilliant thinkers like Dr. McDowell, Dr. Moreland and Dr. William Lane Craig. What amazing treasures for the defense of the Christian faith and just reality as revealed in the Bible! Praise to God for giving us these amazing teachers!

Question - the test carried out in hospital to identify death for those in coma (lack of brain stem activity). If the soul is separate to our brain and it’s activity then are you saying clinical practice is wrong? Are some with brain activity potentially already deceased, while others without brain activity still hosting a soul? What test would be more meaningful in light of your magnum opus?

After watching this video I wanted to share some thoughts from a Seventh Day Adventist perspective. This video primarily examines this subject from a atheistic worldview vs a traditional Christian worldview. There aspects from both sides that I agree with and aspects from both sides I would disagree with. For those that don't know SDA's believe that when a person dies, he is dead, unconscious, ceases to live. This video wasn't making biblical arguments so Im not going there either except for framing my perspective. In my worldview it would be correct to say I am a physicalist, as I do not believe in immaterial consciousness including the person God. I call immaterial consciousness: spiritualism. I also believe spiritualism is the foundation to Satan's kingdom, his plan to deceive the entire world. I bring this up because it will give a foundation to what else Im saying. There are points in this video that I believe are impossible for an atheist to explain but I also believe atheists have points on this topic that do not fit within the substance dualism doctrine. I'll give some examples. I don't believe atheists can deal with near death experiences except to pretend the evidence doesn't exist. As for me near death experiences are evidence to me of the foundation I mentioned in the beginning. Near death experiences are very inconsistent, some pointing to a traditional Christian worldview, some to a pantheist or other spiritualistic worldview and many people have no experience of one at all. I believe the experiences these people have are very real but I believe it is the devil giving them the experience in order to establish the doctrine of dualism as it plays a very important role in deceiving the entire world into the mark of the beast in the finale of the world. Now although this doctor may sound highly knowledgeable on this subject, to me its all based in philosophy and human reasoning. The complexity of the brain and the emergence of consciousness is not something I can explain, I'll admit that. I can try to use all my ability and it will likely fall short of being adequate. I simply stick with the Bible that the dead know nothing, and from dust you are and dust you shall return. Obviously im not going into depth there but I believe almost all of Christianity has been deceived into the idea of dualism. For me the soul is the abstract spiritual manifestation that emerges from complex physical properties yet allows for to be in control of the system. The atheist worldview although being similar to what Im saying does have a problem because it is based on naturalism, where mine is based on design, I just haven't been taught exactly how this complicated body works. A point about dualism that needed to be examined more was its foundation. Where did it come from? Do animals have a dualistic framework because I see the foundation for spirit bringing life to be the same in both man and animal? Obviously my understanding of spirit is different than dualism because I don't believe in immaterial consciousness. I say "spirit" in the context of a spirit of a being (God, Jesus, man, animals). In dualism the soul has all the data stored within it, otherwise when a person dies they would have no knowledge or memory to interact outside of the body, as it would be dumb. I didn't see a good answer in this video that arises from all the problems when the soul and body are together. Why would the soul be dependent on the physical brain for memory when the data is in the soul/spirit? If you place all the data in the physical then you're left with a dumb spirit once you die. All the science shows that data and the transactions of it are physical properties. They can actually hook things up to your brain today and read your thoughts with some fairly decent accuracy which gets better as technology develops. I believe this area is an area that the atheist has the upper hand on when it comes to this subject. I think most of his arguments sound plausible because of the complexity of the issue but in reality we shouldn't put much weight in them because they are ultimately the philosophy of men. In the finale of the world you all will see how important this issue is when you have your dead grandma, or dead anyone visit you as a ghost. It won't be grandma, it will be a familiar spirit, a demon impersonating the dead. They won't tell you new lies, they will simply encourage you in rte direction you are already going. They will confirm your current Christian beliefs and this will give you confidence they are not lying when the reality is, you had already been deceived by the antichrist (pope) and false prophet (traditional Christianity). I know that is offensive but Im telling you the future before it happens so that you might have a chance to escape the great deception in the future. Blessings Corey

Knowledge gained in Spirit outside of the brain, must be stored somewhere. Perhaps we have software brains as well as hardware brains

I am a spanish speaker from Latin America, I can understand english well, but I was lost in translation the first 47 minutes... some concept were hard to understand but... It was great to learn a little more about our souls and mind

Don't souls get treated as "brute fact" by Moreland? Aren't they simply ex nihlo? Are we back into infinite regress? It seems that ultimately, the decision on whether or not to believe in emergence or extra-natural souls, is an aesthetic one according to Moreland.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, mind and soul" .. it never says with your brain. 😊

Ohhhhh, now I understand. 😊 Thank you for this info. ❤

This hast to be in the in top 5 of sean best shows . Im really enjoying it . I wish he wld have him back to do a series on the soul is real and what it is and were it is in us añd it never dies .we will have a new body too house our soul .

I would be very curious to hear what a philosopher has to say to someone like Michael Knowles, who claims the substance dualism position is what the trans activists use to justify their position that someone can be “born in the wrong body”. As opposed to his position of hylomorphism.

This will be Epiccccc! JP Moreland in da soul house!

I heard a Ravi ism. “Found to be Difficult and left untried” very informative, great show. I think therefore I am. Materialist’ use free will to consciously ignore there own soul. 😮

Excited for this!

Probably the strongest argument for cartesian dualism is that time is an illusion, and every moment that happens is a permanent mark on a dimension we only pass through ephemerally, but that mark endures beyond our perception. It could be that the "afterlife" is a misnomer because the existence of the soul is neither before nor after anything, and our experience of the passage of time is a perceptual trick.

I'm a Christian and a dualist . . . but a QUICK cautionary note on this discussion. The materialist is going to argue that this entire discussion is "question begging", and very ad hoc. They will argue that if a brain state actually DOES cause the emergence of a conscious experience, just as the combination of hydrogen and oxygen causes the emergence of wetness, then there is no need to argue for a soul. One simply gives rise to the other, in the same manner. They will point out that by adding a "soul" into the equation, you are adding something that is unnecessary, and urge you to use Occam's Razor to simply do away with the soul.

QUESTION: It seems that the sense of dualism which children naturally intuit could be explained by the sensation of existing as software running on the hardware of a brain. Likewise, consciousness being a property of software seems to account for the conceptual possibility of your "soul" being able to exist apart from your body - just as software can be transferred between physical computers, broadcast through the air as wifi, etc... What do you make of this objection? That the sensation of existing as a dualistic entity is explained by nature of our identity being a combination of both software and hardware? This does not answer where consciousness comes from, but it seems to explain how a naturalistic process could feel dualistic.

I mean, to be honest, we don't if there's a "what it's like to be an electron" (nod to my panpsychic friends). More appropriately, I think he seems to be saying that we're choosing to limit our definition of consciousness to those who can express or articulate in some degree "what it is like" to be experiencing what they are experiencing. However, opening up the definition of that experience in some form or fashion may actually be a wider phenomenon than those who can reflect on or articulate it nicely avoids some problems. For example, you no longer have to explain the emergence of experience (it's part of matter generally), but just the facilities to reflect on and articulate that experience. So more simple, if experience is part of matter or the fabric of reality, etc, if there's something it is like to be an electron, then you don't *have* to have a soul to explain the emergence of consciousness. And you can explain a lot of human psychology (reflecting, feeling, articulating) as things that a complicated brain allows us to do with the raw material of experience that is woven in to everything. There's a parallel issue with his approach to free will. He *assumes* that free will is property of individuals, and not say a property of matter, reality, laws of nature, etc. He then argues that since he has this property that other matter does not, he must have some special property like a soul. However, if you don't make the assumption that free will is a property of humans, his logic falls apart. If free will is a fact of the universe, then all that makes humans unique is that I have the physical equipment to exercise free will, where as a rock does not, and animals do not appear to have the same level of that capacity. An analogy here: I drop a rock in the water. It doesn't swim. Yet, I CAN swim. Is there some special property of me (my swimming soul) that enables me to do what a rock cannot? No, swimming is an inherent possibility of fluid, density, the laws of motion, etc. I don't need a swimming soul, I just need to have the physical machinery to take advantage of what was already present in the laws of nature and the properties of matter. Perhaps the brain is the machine by which recognize, reflect on, and move through choices in a somewhat analogous fashion that we perceive, identify, and move through the water while a rock does not. I'm not saying that I can prove I am only my brain. In fact, I don't believe that. However, his supposed "proof" of a soul via free will is defined more by his assumptions going into the problem than the logic of the argument itself. I don't think that a person has to make the same assumptions, and so this argument is not very persuasive to me without really diving into why those assumptions are at least preferable than the alternative.

An educational and entertaining story about increasing faith is the book Axis of Beginning.

My favorite NDE research data point is the dr who put a sign up on the roof and on the top of the refrigerator in the room to test people who said that they had an NDE.... crazy... and Im a Christ follower who knows that there is life after death, but the odea that there is some type of linger after death just trips me out

Any of y’all try to read this book? What about his much more approachable “The Soul”? No? He’s intense. God bless him. Always been inspired by him

How do you explain Genesis 2:7, Ezekiel 18: 4,20?

I have had supernatural events occur in my life, yet I still have a faith that goes up and down everyday. Am I alone in this?

Hi Sean, the bible clearly states that Spirit is Eternal and when it takes on flesh the union Becomes 'a living Soul' scriptures verify that 'the soul that sins shall die' and that at Death the 'Spirit leaves via the mortal coil to return 'to God that gave it'

I like the idea that since are cells are always replacing themselves are body/brain is constantly different today than it will be tomorrow. And even though we are physically different are personalities/soul remain constant. So it's kind of proof we have a soul. But how would this idea explain my dog for example. I would assume her cells are constantly dieing and replacing themselves too so the physical dog she is today is not the same as a month ago. However she still knows the same tricks and reacts to certain people in certain ways. I thought that animals not created in God's image do not have a soul. So why does my dog seem to have a soul in this idea?

Love you Dr Moreland!

Great discussion! I’m curious how Dr. Moreland would explain the body’s importance as an expression of the self made in the divine image, i.e. how does substance dualism avoid a simplistic reduction of the body as the mere machinery that the “real” person inhabits? Does this worldview too easily render the body arbitrary in questions of identity?

43:50 "you could possibly survive death" is the claim that you need to argue, not simply assume

... a fascinating discussion.

Thank you so very much🙏😊!

When Dr. Moreland said we are a soul with a body, he is teaching Gnosticism and Platonism, which is not Christian anthropology. According to patristic Christian anthropology, man is a soul and a body, not just as soul. He also accepts the Big Bang theory, which is not patristic teaching.

Very interesting yet frustrating discussion. Its so frustrating that these obviously intelligent people cannot discern the difference between spirit and soul. "But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job 32:8 "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians 2:11 SOUL: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7 A soul is the being created when spirit and body are united. A soul ceases to exist when the body dies and the spirit returns to God.

The soul you are describing is simply the mind. The mind is eternal. The mind creates the soul in order to evolve, learn, heal, and balance, The mind is conscious, the mind creates it's form...in an earthly body or in an ethereal body. The mind can alter the physical body and experience the afterlife. Your mind is eternally connected to God. “'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"

Been following your page for a couple months now. Loving the content. Question: After listening to your arguments for consciousness being a potential evidence for the soul. How would we respond with animals having a consciousness and ability to feel pain and emotions? And if it’s applicable what would then be their eternal state?

The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes that the body is distinct from the soul, a concept elucidated by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the first page of the text.

In his new book, there are responses to materialism, panpsychism, however there is not responses to analytical idealism.

Loved the Prince of Egypt music in the beginning of the video

I love J.P. and I don't pretend to understand 95% of what he says but hes fun to listen to

Thank you both for bringing this subject alive in a great conversation! Has J.P. ever read Dane Rudhyar's book "The Planetarization Of Consciousness"? If so, what does he think of it? This is one of my favorite philosophy books regarding the subject.

J P you rock brother!

There's a misunderstanding here of what "science" is - it is not a method of determining truth, it merely puts boundaries on where truth could be. Popper's falsification criteria to solve the demarcation problem does not insist that empirical science absolutely determines truth - it only means that we use science to determine what is *not* true, and within the remaining explanations there still may be unfathomable mystery (see Godel's incompleteness theorem). While substance dualist scholarship is interesting philosophically, it won't enter the realm of "science" until it has falsification criteria, and we start looking earnestly for those falsifications, and fail to find them.

Wow..great topic..deep stuff😳

This is the "best case"!

Sir, I will suggest you to facilitate a discussion between leading proponent of Analytical idealism ( Bernardo Kastrup) and JP Moreland. Analytical idealism post a greater challenge to the existence of the soul than any other world view. 🙏

Great videos.

What about spirit? We are body, soul and spirit. Maybe I missed that part of the discussion?

Question: Do you think Alzheimer's or dementia is the result of soul being out of line with the body (brain)? I totally agree with what he is saying, but that is a puzzling issue.

We naturally see the world right-side up, even though the images projected upon our retinas are upside-down. Cartesian dualists are experiencing a real sensation, but that doesn't mean that it correlates to an actual physical truth. It seems that what Moreland is arguing for is a philosophical position, not a physical position.

And, then there's Sam Harris. I really like Sam but man! His reasoning can leave one wanting. He was on Big Think stating that the self is an illusion. Ah man! That kind of thing makes my illusory self need to take real Tylenol. The best comment on there (one of the funniest comments on conscious) is "there is no self and no free will then why do I have to repay my student loans?"

I completely agree with the evidence of the second part but the possibility of a difference thing was really bad. In the spiderman example, imagine that you could not directly test the thing that forced Sean to be born in California (let's say evidence of some specific regional radiation in his cells) on spider man. So you could say it's possible that he could come from New York but you don't actually know if it is possible; spider man could have that same radiation you just haven't tested it. In the case of the soul surviving after death, it could be completely impossible if the soul is actually just neurons firing. I also think the color vs wavelength thing was also just misusing language. We could just as easily have the same word for brightness and amplitude, for example. Also, a thermometer is entirely physical and the height of the mercury is not the same thing as heat, but is directly caused by it. In the same way, a materialist could argue that color is our wavelength "thermometer," physically expressing a measurement of wavelength. Maybe I just didn't get their argument or maybe it was too abbreviated here. The rest of the video was very compelling and I do affirm the existence of a soul

Will there be a Q/A?

Are our thoughts, ideas, and concepts physical? Is mathematics or language or even the current laws of nature physical? I think not. If our soul (our conscious awareness) is the sum of all ideas held within the vessel of our body then it is conceivable that we can, in some form, continue and survive our physical death. The question today is whether physical matter is illusionary!

Please demonstrate the existence of this thing commonly referred to as a "soul".

The intro music 😂 definitely Moses at the burning bush haha

QUESTION: It seems the story of Phenias Gage and psychopathy support physicallism. Can you explain how these phenomena can be explained with a dualistic worldview?

Read: You are not your brain, By. Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding

Let's GOOOOOO!

Do my memories go with my soul, or body? My sense os humor? Etc...?

My understanding is that DNA is physical matter and a code that instructs the operation of of cells in the body. Is that correct?

Brilliant

Some islamic teacher believes that soul is sensation,Hayat is age maximum,Nur is intimated light.thus elements are inside the body in every human as one origin parts of God,my question is God multiple ?

my soul is intervening & ordering my brain that is concious of my thumbs to text the spirit of this test that you the reader can unpack yourself in reverse. We can repeatedly test this physical to idealogical to then either truly learning the spirit of what this mean accept it deep down in your soul and allow it to be with you forever or you can just tuck it in the corner of your brain and fake it. This is up to you.

My first question: is his position identical to Cartesian dualism? Sometimes it sounds like, sometimes it doesn't.

Can you age based on geographic 3 dimensional map, where if you go north you get older and south younger. Time is not linear it's fixed. Even the begging and end becomes different locations on the Timegeography

Actually, we are our souls AND our bodies.

How does substance dualism relate to depression/mental illness? Also, if the soul brings life to a body, do my dogs have a soul?

So is consciousness the soul?

So Sean, this same type of argument could be applied to God being a triune God. We can’t prove he’s a triune being, but nobody can disprove it either, So that leaves room to believe in the trinity, though we can’t comprehend how 3 distinct persons can be of one being. And were not talking about some kind of schizophrenia.

If it's real then what's it made out of?

What do you think of the idea that there does not appear to be a reductionist reason why crossculturally children are dualists, but this does not mean that a good reason does not exist? I am someone who believes there is a hierarchy of being where the spirit is the deepest and our behaviors are the most shallow. However, I would never phraze this as "physical vs non-physical' because the spirit is different from the soul is different from the heart is different from the mind/intellect. Also, behaviors are not physical but are more shallow than our body.