causal

Dualism would show up as unexplained brain events

The main problem with substance dualism is empirical rather than philosophical: if an immaterial mind were causally impacting the brain every second of waking life, this would show up in neuroscience as physical events with no physical explanation, like a poltergeist playing with the brain; since we do not observe this, there is a growing inductive argument against dualism.

causalpending

Speaker

Philip Goff

Evidence Quote

There'd be all sorts of things happening in the brain that had no physical explanation. It'd be like a poltergeist was playing with the brain, and I think that's not what we see.

Source

71 | Philip Goff on Consciousness EverywhereSean Carroll's Mindscape
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:10:44 AM

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