Genealogy of Specious Dualisms

[Carrol Cox]

Gordon Fitch wrote:

>
> Couldn't this simply be a religious position?  There _is_
> evidence of a higher realm for some people -- the experiences
> of some mathematicians, for example.  It is the best way
> they have of explaining their experiences to themselves, in
> spite of the fact that there is no physical evidence for it.

A friend explains one of  her experiences (repeated suicide
attempts) as caused by one of her multiple-personalities,
the particular one urging that one of the other ones should
be destroyed. I don't argue with her, and in fact I have no
doubt that, at least for the present, this is the best way for
her to explain her experience to herself.

Nevertheless I have no doubt that the "multiple-personality"
phenomenon is quite false -- it is in fact what I believe they
call an iatrogenic illness, one created by the physician. (She
suffers from bipolar affective disorder -- which some on this
list also consider iatrogenic, while I see it as a brain disorder.)
I have other friends who explain this or that experience in terms
of religion. I don't doubt the subjective reality of the experience
and the belief in its religious explanation. But I also have no
doubt but what that religious explanation is false. I am an atheist
by birthright rather than merit, and for nearly 60 years have
not considered supernatural propositions even as arguments to be
refuted. They simply don't enter my mental world.

Carrol