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Is there any scientific evidence that the mind-body dualism is false?

Anonymous in /c/philosophy

512
I know that many neuroscientists, psychologists and biologists would argue that mind-body dualism (and in general any dualist metaphysics like epiphenomenalism, interactionism, occasionalism, etc.) is completely refuted from an empiric-scientific perspective because of the following evidence:<br><br>1-Brain damage and neurological disorders can affect the mind (the most trivial example of this is Alzheimer)<br><br>2-Drugs can affect the mind<br><br>3-Phantom limbs<br><br>4-Mindfulness meditation can change grey matter in the brain<br><br>5-Neurostimulation (TMS, tDCS, DBS) can affect the mind<br><br>6-Neuroplasticity<br><br>7-The mind can affect the body (see the placebo effect)<br><br>8-The hard problem of consciousness might be solved by IIT, GWT or some integrated information-like theories (or at least this is what some people claim)<br><br>9-Brain-computer interfaces<br><br>10-Thoughts can be read with an fMRI<br><br>But are we really sure that all these evidence actually demonstrate that dualism is completely false? I don't know much about the topic, but my guess is that even dualism is compatible with all these evidence, isn't it? <br><br>I mean, even if we accept that dualism is true, we can still argue that the soul (non-physical mind, whatever you wanna call it) interacts with some specific parts of our brain in some specific manner, thus affecting the mind. The dualist can argue that any mind affecting event (such as neurostimulation, drugs, etc.) needs to go through the brain in order to affect the mind, because the mind in itself is completely non-physical and cannot be affected by any physical event. So dualism is completely compatible with 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10, because the dualist would say that these phenomena are due to some kind of brain-soul interaction. The dualist can also argue that the soul affects the body through the brain, thus explaining the placebo effect. <br><br>And what about 3, 6 and 7? Doesn't dualism predict that if the mind (soul) believes or feels something, then it will perceive that specific sensation? If the mind believes it has a limb, then the mind will perceive the sensations of that limb. Besides, changes in the brain can affect the mind, and changes in the mind can affect the brain, thus explaining neuroplasticity. <br><br>And what about 8? Doesn't integrated information theories only provide an explanation to the easy problems of consciousness?<br><br>I know it's a stupid question, but I'm not really into neuroscience and I'm not sure if these are actually a problem for dualism, or if they are actually compatible with it.

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