1. Murphy on the soul - 1 Nancey Murphy on the soul zNancey Murphy, “Noreductive Physicalism: Philosophical Issues” in Brown, Murphy & Maloney, eds. Whatever Happened to the Soul? (Fortress 1998) z1. Reductionism xReductionism is popular in science and in philosophy.

2. Murphy on the soul - 2 Nancey Murphy on the soul E.g., Religion is nothing but a mechanism for maintaining group solidarity which in turn has survival value. Another e.g., mental activities are nothing other than brain processes. xMurphy’s starting point is to claim that reality is made up of levels which are not reducible to lower levels

3. Murphy on the soul - 3 Nancey Murphy on the soul E.g., of a hierarchy of levels - from Roy Wood Sellars –religious or spiritual –ethical –social –mental or conscious –organic –inorganic

4. Murphy on the soul - 4 Nancey Murphy on the soul zMurphy’s preferred hierarchy zHierarchy of complex systems

5. Murphy on the soul - 5 Nancey Murphy on the soul xMurphy next defends a position which she calls “nonreductive physicalism” Rejects reductive materialism -- the position that higher-level entities are nothing other than the sum of their parts. E.g., cells-molecules

6. Murphy on the soul - 6 Nancey Murphy on the soul xShe defines & defends reduction in terms of bottom-up and top-down causality. reductionism -- all causality is bottom-up Murphy rejects this. E.g., of top- down causality -- the jaws of worker ants and termites

7. Murphy on the soul - 7 Nancey Murphy on the soul –The action of the environment in selecting from the many possibilities is top-down causality

8. Murphy on the soul - 8 Nancey Murphy on the soul xTurning to soul & mind Murphy denies the existence of a nonmaterial entity called mind or soul. But she holds that consciousness is is an emergent property and produces causal effects on the body. The seat of consciousness & all mental activities is the human neural system.

9. Murphy on the soul - 9 Nancey Murphy on the soul The relationship between mental activities and neurological processes is one of supervenience

10. Murphy on the soul - 10 Nancey Murphy on the soul xSupervenience A special kind of relationship between levels in a hierarchy A higher-level property supervenes on a lower when all the necessary conditions are present under specific set of circumstances. E.g., good applied to St. Francis.

11. Murphy on the soul - 11 Nancey Murphy on the soul Is not an identity relationship. “Good” applies to St. Francis but also to many other persons.

12. Murphy on the soul - 12 Nancey Murphy on the soul Other e.g.s of supervenience — mental sets in perception & children estimating the size of disks yHow nonreductive physicalism helps explain free will xReasons, judgments, choice are higher- level activities (emergent) which supervene on neurological processes.

13. Murphy on the soul - 13 Nancey Murphy on the soul yEmpirical support for nonreductive physicalism xBrain localization studies xMoral reasoning — the special role of “ought”

14. Murphy on the soul - 14 Nancey Murphy on the soul yReligious experience & nonreductive physicalism xMurphy’s thesis: No special faculty is needed to account for religious experience. Religious experiences supervene on ordinary experiences.

15. Murphy on the soul - 15 Nancey Murphy on the soul xTypes of religious experience Interpretive religious experiences (e.g., accepting an illness because it is a chance to participate in Christ’s suffering) G The interpretation is a higher- level description G May be causally efficacious on physiological level, a top-down causality.

16. Murphy on the soul - 16 Nancey Murphy on the soul Quasi-sensory experiences — e.g., visions, dreams. Involve ordinary faculties, nonetheless may be explained as caused by God for some special purpose. [Comment: Why not describe the relationship between the physiological & neurological explanation & the religious explanation as complementary?]

17. Murphy on the soul - 17 Nancey Murphy on the soul Revelatory experiences — special insights, inspirations. Are religious experiences only if they have religious content. G These experiences depend on the same neural functions as ordinary experiences. G May be attributed to Divine because one has done nothing to induce it & because have long- lasting effects.

18. Murphy on the soul - 18 Nancey Murphy on the soul Regenerative experiences — any which renew a person’s spiritual and moral and physical well-being. Are like similar ordinary experiences except for the religious context.

19. Murphy on the soul - 19 Nancey Murphy on the soul Mystical experiences — sometimes similar to drug-induced experiences. The difference: mystical experience is the pinnacle of a spiritual journey. Again, the circumstances make the difference.

20. Murphy on the soul - 20 Nancey Murphy on the soul xConclusions: Religious experiences do not depend on any special faculties beyond ordinary human faculties. Their religiousness consists in their circumstances Thus religious experiences supervene on ordinary experiences in the context of an encounter with God.