Brain Science Podcast discussion

In August 2011, Prof Nancey Murphy undertook a speaking tour of eastern Australia on the subject of her book "Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?: Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will". I was fortunate enough to attend her lecture in Brisbane, Queensland, delivered on Wednesday 27th August, 2011.

Abstract: “Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?” Ten years ago I gave two lectures in Adelaide on “Why Christians Should Be Physicalists” and “How Physicalists Can Avoid Being Reductionists.” This lecture will be a follow-on to that program. I’ll briefly overview the justifications for a physicalist (as opposed to dualist) theory of human nature, but then focus on the work I’ve done in the meantime, showing why neurobiological reductionism fails. That is, due to our complex neural systems, informed by culture, we are able to transcend deterministic brain processes, allowing for genuine rationality, responsibility, and spirituality. I shall focus in my argument on the resources of the new science of complex adaptive systems theory.

More here:

http://www.faithinterface.com.au/scie...

Roger wrote: "In August 2011, Prof Nancey Murphy undertook a speaking tour of eastern Australia on the subject of her book "Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?: Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral ..."

Have you seen Murphy's essay in In Search of the Soul: Perspectives on the Mind-Body Problem?

I assume you have heard BSP 53, which is a review of Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?: Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will and BSP 62, which is an interview with Murphy's co-author Warren Brown.