25.1 Relations between degrees

The previous three chapters have described the main degrees according to theistic science. This was done by identifying the structural degrees of scientific theism with actual processes in the universe, using the fact that some of these actual processes are known already and well described by modern science. Now we address more specifically the causal connections between those degrees. We need to consider the connections between the mental and physical degrees, between the spiritual and mental degrees, and between the divine and the spiritual. This is needed especially since, for many people it is controversial that such connections exist at all.

In fact, many current world views can be defined as the denial of the reality of one or more of these connections. There is a wide spectrum of such views. The three most common positions are as follows.

• Denial that there are any mental-physical connections: this is what it is to be a physicalist. This position used to be called materialism, but that name is less popular now because of the many not-material-like qualities within the physical.^25.1To be completely consistent, physicalists should further assume that all rationality, thinking, feeling, deciding and consciousness must either be properties of physical (or material) objects in the universe or only be appearances that do not really exist. Some physicalists shy away from this conclusion. They attempt to formulate a ‘non-reductive physicalism’ that keeps the reality of rationality and consciousness while still allowing physics to be a complete description of reality. Other physicalists contend that such compromise positions are actually inconsistent. Much current debate about physicalism and consciousness centers around these issues.
• Denial that there are any spiritual-mental connections: this is to take the view of humanists that minds are ‘natural phenomena’ that are self-aware, self-motivating, and hence self-sufficient. Such people would therefore not allow for the existence of anything transcending normal thinking or feeling. They strongly dislike the idea of reducing mentality and rationality to physics. They seek non-reductive ideas of mind such as non-reductive holism or emergence in order to keep some real kind of mental-physical distinction.
• Denial that there are any divine-spiritual connections. This is to be a ‘spiritual-atheist’, rather like the Buddhist view. Strictly speaking, the Buddhists refuse to confirm or deny the existence of a divinity, but they typically reject any talk of God or theism.^25.2A similar view, one that allows for spirituality in an atheistic universe, has recently been advocated by Harris (2004).^25.3

Between any pair of levels P and Q within the multilevel generative structure that we have developed for theism, we can now begin to describe how P influences Q by generative causation and how the effects in Q yet again affect what can happen in P by selections or constraints. This standard pattern is not symmetric dualism because generation is distinct from selection. We will see that the overall effects of such asymmetric connections result still in a rather close coupling between adjacent degrees. In the end, the result is effectively an interactive dualism.^25.4

Let us look first at the details of mental-physical connections: those between our minds and our bodies (including our brain).