Is there an “I” inside my dog? If yes, what’s the difference between it’s “I” and my “I”. John Derbyshire explains why this century may be the first (in all the twenty-four we have been pondering consciousness) in which we finally learn some true facts about it.  

The I’s Have It

by John Derbyshire

A clergyman (Anglican, of course*) once told me that the question he was most often asked by parishioners was:  “Will my dog go to heaven?”  That was thirty-something years ago.  If the good reverend is still around, and can hold on for just a few years more, he may be able to offer his parishioners a definitive answer. 

So at any rate says the New York Times. In an article under the title “Science of the Soul? ‘I Think, Therefore I Am’ Is Losing Force,” the Times introduces us to Nancey Murphy, a philosopher at Fuller Theological Seminary, and John F. Haught, a theologian at Georgetown University. The Times quotes Dr. Murphy to this effect:

1. “Evolutionary biology shows the transition from animal to human to be too gradual to make sense of the idea that we humans have souls while animals do not.  All the human capacities once attributed to the mind or soul are now being fruitfully studied as brain processes.” 
   

Complete article... (via Bookforum)

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