The Soul/ Body Problem: A New
Proposed Solution—Wave Interaction Dualism
“To
attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things
in the world.”
“….with what facts shall we begin the
inquiry?” Aristotle. On the Soul. Book 1, Chapter 1
A new set of scientific facts for consideration in
Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience
Contents
Part 1: Dualism and the Soul/ Body Problem
Part 2:
Wave/Particle Physics and Soul/Body Wave Interaction Dualism in Humans
Part 3: Wave Interactions and Compressible Flow
Abstract
A solution, expressed in scientific terminology, to the classic
philosophic problem of the Dualism of Soul and Body is offered by the introduction of a physical wave behavior
to the soul when it is embodied, so that a new unity emerges.
The wave/particle example from quantum physics is only partially
dualistic since it is the unified interaction product of a physical
wave speed and a physical particle
velocity. The new soul/body wave analogue is the unified, and at the same time
dualistic, interaction product of an
immaterial soul’s wave speed c and a bodily motion V.
The proposition is explored that the spiritual, human soul, in its
association with the body, obeys the fundamental classical wave
equation of physics exactly, whereas, in physics itself, only approximations to
it are observed.
The new wave interaction approach is presented as ‘a new set of facts’ for consideration
in the Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience
PART 1
Dualism and the Soul/ Body Problem
1.1 Introduction
The philosophy of human
consciousness and intelligence, today involves an input of scientific facts
from a large number of scientific disciplines, such as neuroscience,
biophysics, psychology, information
theory and the like.
In classical
philosophy, the human or rational animal is described as a creature composed of
the union of a
material body and a rational soul, The
question then arises as to how the two essentially different entities of body
and of spirit can join to form an organic unity. We shall attempt a scientifically based
solution to this key problem. This is the well defined and well studied problem
of dualism, of
which a classical example has been that of the philosophy of Descartes [1,
2]. He postulated that there were two entirely
different substances involved in humans, namely matter and spirit; but
then, the objection arose as to how two entirely different entities could
be joined to constitute a unity? How could they interact?
The theologian
Karl Rahner, S. J. [ 3,5 ] argued that body and
soul cannot be completely different,
otherwise the two could not be joined to form an organic unity. Bernard Lonergan, S. J. makes the same point, from a different
perspective, in his Insight: A Study of
Human Understanding.[4].
These philosophers and theologians argue that the soul, in some aspects, must
be similar to matter. What could these
similarities be?
This question has
led us to a search for material forms which an immaterial soul could
emulate, or assume the role of, in order to function as a unity in a
material body. In this search, the example of the wave/ particle conundrum of early quantum
physics was considered, and a dualistic, wave- interaction energy term 2cV in a
flow energy equation was seen as offering a possible solution.
1.2 General Approach to the Dualism Problem
If the soul and
body are to interact
in an intimate organic unity, then in human physical matters, the
soul must participate in the physical activities of the body, and in those
instances must be subject to the same physical and chemical laws as the body.
Therefore, some
scientific laws must pertain even to an immaterial soul, not intrinsically, but in those physical
activities which the soul shares with the body.
Again, the
material brain is flooded with the waves, electrical and electrochemical in nature, which pertain to received
sensory data and to the intelligibility they contain, transfer and store. An entity which scans and
interacts with this material intelligibility in the brain and nervous system, even
if this scanning entity is spiritual,
clearly must possess, or assume,
properties that relate to matter and to its laws of physical action.
We proceed to offer a solution to
this Dualism problem via a comparison with the laws of wave/ particle interactions in quantum physics and in compressible fluid
flow, with emphasis on the wave qualities.
1.3 Physical Dualistic
Wave Interactions in
Quantum Physics and in Compressible Flow ; A Unifying Concept
Example 1: The physical wave/ particle dualism
of quantum physics. From its earliest days, a main feature of
quantum physics was the question of how the quantum entity (wave function,
Ψ) could be,
or could represent, both a wave and a particle. Waves and moving
particles are dissimilar, but they are alike in both being physical motions.
These quantum wave entities thus appear to be dualistic physical entities which
are worth study.
In the case of
quantum physics, the symbol Ψ, the ‘wave function’, represents, in the
Example 2: Wave/ pulse Interaction Energy
Another example of wave particle interactions lies in compressible flow physics. Such
flows have a wave speed c ( e.g. acoustic waves,
acoustic waves of compression or
rarefaction, etc. ) and a local flow velocity V of fluid. If the particular compressible fluid obeys the classical wave equation, its wave pulses then
travel at a pulse velocity (dx/dt)I,
II given by:
(dx/dt)I,
II = c ± u
where u is the component of flow velocity V in the
x-direction.
Therefore, the wave pulse
specific energy ( i.e. the energy per unit mass) in the x-direction is the
square of the pulse velocity, that is
Epulse = (dx/dt)2 I, II = ( c ± u )2 = c2 + u2
+ 2cu, and c2 + u2 −
2cu
where 2cu is the
interaction energy between wave speed c and flow u in the x direction,
and in the minus x-direction..
In
three dimensions, we have ( c ± V)2 = c2
+ V2 ± 2cV.
We see that these classical
wave pulses travel at a velocity sum ( c + V), and that the two c and V speeds
also interact to produce the wave pulse energy containing the interaction energy 2cV term This
wave speed plus flow speed interaction
in compressible flow is the counterpart
to the quantum wave/particle interaction; it is also a unity of two dissimilar entities, namely c and V, yielding a ‘unity in duality’, 2cV,
that we shall put forward to support the
validity of a Soul /body unity postulate.
1.4 Conclusions
We have outlined a solution to the Dualism
Problem in the Philosophy of Mind.
Instead of Soul and
Body being completely dissimilar, as with Descartes’ formulation, we, by an
analogy with quantum physics, postulate
that the human soul when embodied
is energetic and can (1) assume
an energetic form consistent with the classical wave equation and its unique
linear equation of state, and can
(2) interact with the various
kinetic particulate and mass motions and fluid flows of the human body, so that
it produces an interaction energy 2cV
which constitutes an intimate “unity in duality”, thus resolving the soul/body
duality problem.
More complete
scientific details will be presented in Part
2: Wave/Particle Physics and Soul/Body
Wave Interaction Dualism in Humans
References and Notes
1. Descartes, Rene.
Meditations on First Philosophy. U.of Chicago . The
Great Books. No. 31. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1952.
2. Grim, Patrick. Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines. The Great
Courses.
3. Rahner, Karl, S.J. Hominisation:
The Evolutionary Origin of Man as a Theological Problem. Herder and Herder,
4. Lonergan, Bernard J. F.,
S.J. Insight: A Study of Human Understanding. Philosophic Library,
5. Rahner
[3], as an example of possible
similarity between spirit and matter, wrote
“ matter ---- considered as a sort of solidified spirit”. The science of
today , however, points to a position
that matter is, instead, much more likely to be ‘condensed energy’. See www.energycompressibility.info .
On this point also, Lonergan in Insight, raises the possibility that energy may relate to the classical philosophic concept of
‘prime matter’.
6. In the case of Man, we
take the position that we are dealing with an animal whose mental activity
relates to, not only basic intelligibility in physical data as with all
animals, but also, uniquely, to the
higher levels of consciousness and thought, that is to such things as probability distributions
of the basic data forms, their standard deviations , their correlations, and
with the myriad higher intellectual
human activities involved in the fine arts, the practical arts, academic studies,
theories, philosophies and so on. In a
word, to human intelligence as opposed to the simple basic detection of
the intelligibility in sensory physical
environmental data.
This distinction between
sensitive animals and man, or between
ability to grasp the intelligible versus the ability to be intelligent about
the intelligible, is dealt with extensively by Lonergan in his Insight
[4]. He writes, for example:
1) “ …. The distinction
between the intelligible emergent probability of prehuman
process and the intelligent emergent probability that arises, is the measure
that man succeeds in understanding himself and in implementing that
understanding.”
2)
“…. in man there occurs the transition from the intelligible to the
intelligent.”
3) “ ……and so in
the limiting case of man, the intelligible yields to the intelligent …”
For Lonergan, intelligibility is the characteristic
mark of material, physical reality, while intelligence or understanding and
insight are the characteristic mark of man.
In Part 2 we go
into details on our proposed soul embodiment model. These details will
necessarily include some wave and flow physics; the full details on the
technical aspect will be sequestered to Part 3, for reference as interest or
need dictates.
End of Part 1
PART 2
Wave/particle Physics and Soul/Body Wave
Interaction Dualism in Humans
2.1 Introduction
We have, in Part 1 above, countered, in scientific terms, the
objections to the philosophic Dualism of
classical Soul/Body theories of human nature. This has been done by
citing the ‘unity in duality’of a wave interaction energy, 2cV, analogous to
the wave/particle ‘unity in duality’ of
quantum wave/particle mechanics.
Here In Part 2, we give more detail on
this soul/body wave interaction dualism.
The true nature of Man certainly has been a matter of deep controversy and
mystery. On the one hand, there are the
overwhelming facts of human intelligence, thought, theoretical solutions,
academic and artistic activities, technologies,
social talents and civilized achievements which today reach out through
space to encompass the entire universe and which must be accounted for. If
these realities are to be acknowledged
and explained, they require a
mental or spiritual reality, incontrovertibly unique to Man, and more or
less in line with the conclusions of the classical Philosophy of Mind.
On the other hand, there are the mounting facts of neuroscience
which have demonstrated in great detail the role of physical brain complexity in human mental processes.
These appear to be purely biological
rather than dualistic.
What we propose here is that assigning a wave and compressible
flow behaviour to an embodied spiritual soul in
man, converts a disparate dualism
into an intimate unity, one in which the
observed facts of both human mental reality
and human intricate physicality
are each fully acknowledged. The new
approach, which we propose to call wave
interaction dualism, is also, in principle, open to scientific verification, for
example, via the proposed wave behavior
and its effects.
2.2 Dualism in Man Let us first look briefly
back at
the classical position that man
is a composite of soul and body, for example, a spiritual or
non- material essence and a material, animal body. But then, on this position,
while soul and body are similar in that both are energetic, the nature of their
energies could be intrinsically different. And so the objection of ‘dualism’ still arises to be
overcome.
Now in the case of Man, we
take the position that we are dealing with an animal whose mental activity
relates to, not only basic intelligibility in physical data, but also to the higher levels of consciousness and thought,
that is to such things as probability
distributions of the basic data forms, their standard deviations , their
correlations, and with the myriad higher
intellectual human activities involved in the physical sciences both pure and
applied, in fine arts, the practical arts, academic studies, theories,
philosophies, religions and so on. We face
the astonishing, incontrovertible facts of human intelligence, as opposed to the simple basic detection of
the intelligibility inherent in the sensory physical environmental, and the repetitive stability that is the mark
of sensitive, non-human animal behavior.
This distinction between
other animals and man, or between ability to grasp the intelligible versus the
ability to be intelligent about that which is intelligible , is dealt with
extensively by Lonergan in his book Insight: A Study
of Human Understanding [1 ]. He
writes, for examples:
1) “ …. The distinction
between the intelligible emergent probability of prehuman
process and the intelligent emergent probability that arises, is the measure
that man succeeds in understanding himself and in implementing that
understanding.”
2)
“ in man there occurs the transition from the intelligible to the intelligent.”
3) “ ……and so in
the limiting case of man, the intelligible yields to the intelligent …”
For Lonergan, intelligibility is the characteristic
mark of material, physical reality, while intelligence or understanding and
insight are the characteristic mark of man.
A Solution:
Our solution to furnishing a scientific explanation for the mental
actions of the embodied human Soul, is that there is an energetic wave/flow
interaction unity involved, and so we postulate
that the embodied human soul exhibits an
energetic wave behavior, having wave speed c, and relative flow speed V, which can interact with the kinetic, material, particulate motions and flow
velocities V of the physical body.
Since the flow speed V is relative, we can have wave speed c and
bodily motion V, or it can be the
reverse with body wave c and soul flow V. In each case, the interaction of wave
speed c and flow speed V results in an interaction, one yielding a real, dualistic unity of body and soul/wave, with total wave- pulse
energy ETotal
= [c+V]2 = c2 + V2 +
2cV, of which the
unifying interaction energy is the term
2cV.
2.3 A Soul/body Wave Interaction Dualism
Suggested by Quantum Wave/particle
Dualism
Since we have introduced a wave behavior into the embodied human
soul, let us examine the Classical Wave
Equation and its linear wave
solution. Although this equation
is fundamental, we should note that in real physical systems ( gases, fluids,
thin films, membranes, tissues, etc.) the waves that appear are never the exact
classical waves, but are always an
approximation. This is because the equations of state of real physical systems
are non-linear ( usually hyperbolic or hyperboloid) instead of being linear as
required for exact classical wave
correspondence.
In the case of man, however, we now also postulate
that the human soul supports the classical wave equation in its exact form. This means that the
soul assumes the behavior of the linear
equations of state p = ±av ±b . Thus, the soul
supports waves of any amplitude large or small, and of either compression or
rarefaction, and will propagate them
with unchanging form, instead of them growing to shocks or
dissipating entirely. This postulate for unrestricted soul waves is coupled with the known ability of the body
to propagate in its tissues stable acoustic type waves, but only when they are
restricted to being of very low amplitude.
Specifically then, we postulate for man
a scientifically verifiable Wave Interaction Dualism, consisting of (1) a material body and a non-material soul, where the latter interacts with the material
body as an energetic (dynamic) wave motion
entity, which, being spirit, (2) can obey exactly the fundamental
classical wave equation and its linear
solutions.
2.1 Classical Wave Equation and Its Linear Equations of State
The classical wave equation
[2] ( for one- dimension x) is:
∂2 Ψ/∂x2
= 1/c2 ( ∂2 Ψ/∂t2 )
The general solution of this is Ψ = f(x − ct) + F(x +ct) which gives a series of sloping
straight lines on the x-t depiction of wave progress
in
space (x) and time (t).
2.2 Linear Equations of Stste for Hypotherical
Fluids Which Support Classical
Waves
Real gases, such as air and liquids such as water, have equations
of state describing their behavior (changes in pressure, specific volume and
temperature) under expansion, contraction
or wave motion , which are hyperboloid, whereas linear equations of
state are needed to exactly support
classical waves.
A theoretical linear equation of state, known as the Tangent/Tsien/Chaplygin gas, which would support classical waves,
is sometimes used in aeronautics and cosmology to get around the limitations
and restrictions of the hyperboloid, real equations of state. Fig. 2.
.
2.3.1 Linear Equations
of State for a Postulated Soul
Which Support Classical Waves
In its postulated embodiment,
the human soul is a wave entity Ψ, exhibiting the
thermodynamic properties of two exact
linear equations of state:
p = −av +b
and p = +av +b
where p is pressure, v is specific volume (or volume of a unit
mass ( v = 1/ρ) ) and a and b are constants.
In the Tangent gas
case ( Section 2.1 above) a linear equation of state for the hypothetical fluid
called the Tsien/Tangent gas p = −Av +B), which
is also a solution to the classical wave equation, is placed tangent to the
hyperbolic equation of state for a real material fluid. At the tangent point the pv
energies of the two fluids are identical, so their behavior is also then identical.
In the present soul/body case ( Fig. 3 ) a linear equation of state,
which obeys the classical wave equation
and is assigned to the embodied
human soul ( p = −av +b), is depicted as tangent to some
averaged adiabatic equation of state pvk for
human bodily tissue. Another
linear equation of state ( p = +av +b] also obeying
the classical wave equation is orthogonal to the tangent case.
If the constant intercept (b) in the two equations of state p = ± av ± b isset to zero, then
the equation lines pass through the origin of the pv
coordinate system (Fig 2 a) and reduce
to:
p
= ± av.
Fig.
2a.. Equations of State for linear solutions of the Classical Wave Equation
(p = ± av)
passing through the origin ( i.e. when
the intercept (b) is zero. ).
2.3.2 Wave/ pulse Interaction Energy
(2cV)
In the classical wave
equation, wave pulses travel, in the x-direction, at a total speed of c, the wave velocity, plus a flow
speed u [2]
(dx/dt)I, I = c +
u
where u is the component
of the flow speed V in the x-direction
[2].
Therefore, the wave pulse
specific energy in the x-direction is the square of the pulse
velocity, that is
Epulse= (dx/dt)2 I, II = ( c+ u )2 = c2 + u2
+ 2cu
where 2cu is the interaction energy between wave
speed c and flow u in the x direction.
For three dimensional with velocity
V, we have wave pulse energy Epulse
= ( c + V)2 = c2 + V2 +2cV.
2.3.3 Wave Speed c
The wave speed c is given by
c2 = (dp/dρ); c = ( dp/dρ)1/2
For the equation of
state p = −Av + B = = −Aρ-1 + B we get, by differentiating for dp/ dρ,
dp = −(−1)
Aρ-2 dρ, so that
c2 = dp/dρ
= +A ρ-2 ; and c = +A1/2
/ ρ = + A1/2 v
Thus, for the linear wave
equation p = −Av+ B , and we see that the
wave speed c is positive and real .
.
For the orthogonal linear equation p = +Av +B, the wave speed c
becomes complex, namely (ic), and the interaction energy becomes 2icV.
This complexity indicates that the wave pulse may resonate.
This resonant wave behavior could be important in the study of such soul
properties as affection, sense of satisfaction accompanying intellectual insight, etc.
In this model, the soul is postulated, when embodied, to supply a
wave action of the exact classical wave kind, and to interact with bodily
kinetic motions to produce an intimate dual energetic unity [ 2cV. 2icV]. This union
of soul with matter is described by the energy interaction. The soul-
in- body is now a unified seat of
consciousness, intelligence, creativity
and affinity directed towards the
Greek triad of desirables: ‘The Good,
The True and The Beautiful’.
With the wave and wave interaction hypothesis or postulate, we
have taken a first step towards describing the human dualistic interaction in
scientific terminology. Other aspects of the soul/ body interaction remain to
be studied and described. For
example, let us look at soul
motions.
2.4 Human Dualistic
Interactions and Wave Motion : “ The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul”
Of the two
motions ( velocities c and V
in the 2cV Dualistic energy term)
the bodily motions V are more readily
understood. Wave motions in fluid are also easily grasped. But, for waves and flow in spirit , we have to make some effort to
properly grasp what is involved.
2.4.1 How does the soul move the body?
We have started
this inquiry into the Soul/Body interaction dualism by an analogy with quantum
wave/particle dualism. The 2cV energy was
derived as a concept from fluid mechanics. Let us then try and continue
by looking at the problem of soul and body motions from the standpoint of the
formalism of the mechanics of motion.
2.4.2
Soul Motion and Force We have characterized
the motion of the soul as a wave motion of speed c. Now in mechanics, by
Wave Acceleration = dc/dt
,
Force =
ma = (‘density’ measure) x acceleration .
Force has
physical dimensions of energy /distance, i.e. E/l. Therefore, if we are dimensionally correct,
we should also have
2cV/l = E/l = Force.
But, force is proportional to an acceleration ( F
= ma), and so let us check our 2cV interaction energy term again
2c( l/t)/l = 2c/t =2 x wave acceleration
Wave Force = EΨ /l = 2cV/l
= 2c/t = 2 ( wave acceleration) (unit
‘density’ parameter)
We tentatively
conclude, therefore, that we can define Soul Force as Wave acceleration (dc/dt) multiplied
by a unit ‘density’ parameter. (Here, the acceleration is a ‘specific acceleration’)’ so that numerically
its value is 1, and it does not appear
specifically in the equation for force.
i.e. F = dc/dt (1). )
Thus, we are
dimensionally consistent with our soul assumptions, as formulated, and can now
proceed to define soul motion in
relation to the human body in terms of wave speed c, and Soul force in terms of wave acceleration
dc/dt. .
Accelerated soul
motions or impulses could conceivably pertain to such things as soul action,
decision, attraction to, affection for,
love of, etc.
This soul wave/ acceleration, dc/dt, recalls the Poet’s
‘flow of soul’ . This
formalism matches the principles of classical mechanics that apply
to the body and further exemplifies a
‘unity in duality’ of soul and body.
Any ‘soul motion’
whatever thus interacts with the body via the force of an accelerated wave pulse relationship 2cV, and a soul/body
interaction occurs. In turn, any bodily motion whatever also interacts with the
soul via an accelerated wave action and
again a force is generated. In this
way, soul and body would act and move
as a unit at all times., but retaining
their essential or intrinsic nature – the body being material and the soul
intrinsically spiritual.
We should perhaps
note that in this model, even motions as
spatially miniscule as atomic or molecular vibrations would interact to
fundamentally knit the soul and body together into the dualistic 2cV unity.
2.4.3 The Problem of
Consciousness: A Suggestion for Neuroscience and Philosophy of Mind
The problem of consciousness, or the sense of self awareness,
remains one of the most perplexing in neuroscience and the Philosophy of Mind.
We are suggesting a role of wave interactions
in the matter.
In our proposed model, any motion, whether of soul- wave
acceleration or of bodily motion, generates a mutual interaction, pulse energy linking soul and
body in an intimate continually renewed
interaction energy, 2cV. In this all pervasive
interaction energy, we suggest,
may lie the source of the sense of ‘self awareness’, and the origin of
consciousness. .
2.2.4
Theory Validation and Further Relevant Questions
In the working
out of valid insights [ 1] the ongoing steps
are, first, a searching, reasoned examination of the model which has
emerged to solve the dualism problem. In the present case this would seem to
include a scientific verification via the proposed wave interaction effect tand the unrestricted wave amplitude characteristic.
Following this,
if the insight is reasonably supported, various further relevant questions
automatically arise in the informed and inquiring mind to be investigated [4].
Among these, the nature and action of
love is undoubtedly foremost, an evaluation of which will welcome the attention
and collaboration of both ‘ saints and
scholars’.
One of these
further relevant questions would also likely
be a new look at the differences and similarities between man and other
animals.
2.4.5 Differences between
Man and Other Animals: Some General Considerations
This is of course a very large topic, which we shall only touch on
here, and only in very general and illustrative
terms.
For our very general descriptive approach, let us consider the case of the North American
Beaver, sometimes considered as the ‘engineering animal’. It lives in domed
hut, constructed of interwoven tree branches, in a lake; the hut has a hidden
underwater entrance, and an inner, dry, earthen floor built up above the lake water level.
The water level in the lake, and so also inside the beaver hut, is controlled by a dam at the lake
outlet built of tree branches plastered with mud. In many cases, the little
lake is actually formed by the beavers
having constructing their dam across a
small stream.
The combination of elements in this animal abode is astonishing,
especially the lake-level-controlling dam. The ensemble of elements seems to
show clear evidence of design. The impression that the animal is
exhibiting ‘intelligent design’ is strong.
And yet, the ingenious beaver also exhibits the universal animal
attribute of endless repetition. The habitation and dam construction is always
the same. This suggests social evolution
rather than invention. All animals have
repetitious, extremely conservative behavior. Genetic control, plus parent- to-
offspring rote learning seems the rule. Thus, the natural selection of a long
chain of small, fortuitously favorable environmental occurrences, coupled with a
drive to seek their own good, could perhaps account for the beaver’s apparent
design originality. This, coupled with extreme animal stability of ‘design’,
could produce the behavior that is
observed..
Turning to man, a striking difference from beaver behavior is that
man’s interaction with his environment is marked by extreme variability and
constant innovation. It is almost completely the opposite to the
non-human animal pattern of
repetitive, extreme stability. It is
innovation versus conservation, and extroverted curiosity versus self -centered
curiosity. It is the question : . ‘What is this to me?’ versus What is this and
Why? Animals are curious and stable. Humans are curious and inventive, they are
changeable socially, even revolutionary,
and their innovations are not at all limited to adopting chance occurring,
useful environmental variations, but rather they spring from insight into universal, immaterial,
principles of a science.
The environmental sensory data are scanned and used in a brain
whose scanning nature is central. In
animals, the result is self centered. In
man, the scanning is ‘insight- seeking’ or intelligent. Thus ,there is an essential difference with humans. We
have suggested that this essential difference includes the wave action of
an immaterial, intelligent,
energetic entity – the human soul.
For a second example, let us consider, say, a watercolor painting
of the aurora borealis. As a concrete
material object, it is a combination of various colors and shapes on a paper
base. As a human, artistic artifact it is an abstraction of sensory images, of
memories of aurora borealis events, the
image areas show variations, shades, forms, paint brush marks, sharp color
edges, blurred ones, colour mixings, composition,
pleasing and unpleasing combinations, contrasts, etc. All concepts are clearly
abstractions. It embodies both hope of artistic success and faults in
technique, concept and finish.
If we were now to show this watercolour
to our beaver, he will undoubtedly sniff it, touch it, and, since it is paper,
he will probably try and eat it. He might possibly even use it to patch a leak in his dam.. Clearly, its concrete material aspects or
intelligibility are his only interest or comprehension. The artistic, mental
and human elements , which really make
up the watercolour simply do not register with the
beaver. It is not something for him to keep and ponder, or to enjoy. Such behaviour is not in his nature. The beaver is
environmentally pretty successful, but he is definitely not the ‘soulful type’.
Because of the hitherto unsolved problem of dualism, the vast
‘preponderance of evidence’ of the Philosophy of Mind that points to a non-material human essence
has, over the past century, gradually become negated in practice, not by fact or reason, but by mere disregard,
in favor of a vague expectation of
eventual explanation by massive, but logically irrelevant, brain complexity. The result has been a serious, debilitating
confusion in human civil, religious,
intellectual and ethical affairs.
The fact that a serious scientific
solution can now be offered to solve the Dualism objection would appear to reverse the situation at once. An
interaction Dualism can no longer simply be rejected, since other scientific reconciliations of the sort
can always be proposed. Therefore, the position of the Philosophy of Mind as central in the
controversy appears reestablished, it
being based on the massive preponderance of unquestioned
evidence as to human creative behavior requiring acceptance and
explanation.
Simply put, if science deals with the nature and functioning of
the Body and philosophy deals with the
nature and functioning of Mind, then the proposed dualistic wave interaction
union of Body and Mind would appear to constitute a new joint arena of interest
and interactive research where science is now
required in Mind as it is in body.
2.4.6 Fully Human Soul/ Body Dualism
We have proposed,
and started to describe in scientific terminology, what we characterize as
‘fully human action’, which is an energetic, fully integrated, soul/body
dualism. One has only to conjure up some human social gathering --- one involving, say, some family, academic,
political, sporting, artistic, or religious
‘Feast of Reason and Flow of
Soul” event, in order to make it clear
at once what this fully human experience
is, and what is involved in a postulated
energetic, dualistic, body and soul human
nature.
If as we contend,
human reality is a composite, then it poses its peculiar dualistic challenge to
being understood, especially when the
task of integrating the physical and spiritual
within a proper scientific formalism and
terminology is then required.
The explanatory,
interactive, dualistic, wave model proposed
can perhaps usefully be viewed as constituting a ‘new set of facts’ for consideration by the Philosophy of Mind
and Neuroscience.
2.5 Conclusions
(1) We have
presented a new argument against rejecting all forms of soul/body dualism by
adopting an approach in which the
spiritual is postulated to be able to configure itself so as to provide a
soul/body wave interaction dualism.
At the same time,
we have reiterated our view of the impossibility of explaining the
overwhelming reality of the unique, abstract, mental, immaterial, insightful,
intellectual, creative, original, artistic, and spiritual facts of human life
by any conceivable complex molecular
materialism.
(2) Our model requires postulates (a) that the
human spirit or soul be able to interact in an energetic, wave-like, dualistic manner
with the human body and vice
versa, (b) that all motions of either soul or body produce energetic 2cV, 2icV, type interactions, and
(c) that the wave motions of the soul
conform to the exact classical wave
equation.
(3) The dualism is with the soul’s ‘wave and flow’, c and V, on
the one hand, and the body’s wave and flow .c and V, on the other. The unity is
in a common, combined energy of interaction 2cV or 2icV as described by
the energy equation Etotal =
(c +V)2 = c2 + V2 + 2cV.
Since the human soul, as postulated, is spirit, its wave action is contingent on the soul being
embodied, and is not to be considered intrinsic, nor is the embodied soul to be
identified with the physical materiality of the human tissue with which the soul intimately interacts in
dualistic wave pulses.
Clearly, such an interaction resulting in a 2cV ( 2icV) energy, constitutes an intimate union, and the
entity corresponding to it would necessarily act as an organic unity. Both soul and bodily energies are present, but in a new interaction unity. It is believed that this
approach solves the philosophic Dualism problem for soul/ body theories
within a valid scientific formalism.
This argument asserts that the human essence, while spiritual,
has, in its action, the dynamic properties of a physical wave so it can interact with the bodily flow
energy. There is as yet no experimental
proof of the wave interaction; and so,
for the moment, it rests on its general reasonableness in fitting the known
facts of human intellectual life. In principle, however, the soul/wave proposal
would seem to be scientifically verifiable, for example through the asserted
wave interaction. Verification must await the examination and assessment of
neuroscience.
The fact that it can be
proposed at all, however, may now philosophically
negate any blanket objection to dualism, since
physical interactions other than wave action may , in general, also be advanced, to be
countered as they are put forward.
(4) We can now
also put forward the presence of this interaction energy of soul and body, [2cV, 2icV], as a potential solution to the ‘hard
problem of human consciousness ‘ in neuroscience and in the Philosophy of
Mind.
(5)
The main implications of the Wave Interaction Dualism appear to be
twofold: (1) it presents a solution to
the Dualism Problem, and (2) it offers to
neuroscience new possibilities,
such as new sets of waves and wave interactions , e.g. , waves of compression, of rarefaction,
standing waves, group waves, resonant complex waves which may interact, for example, with
electrochemical neurotransmitters.
We
have presented these items as’ a new set of facts’ for evaluation by the Philosophy of Mind, and
as a new` application of physical science to the realms of neuroscience. Hopefully, this may help bring about an
enriched awareness and enjoyment of “The
feast of reason and the flow of soul”
in human affairs.
References
1. Lonergan, Bernard
J. F., S.J., Insight: A Study of Human Understanding.
Philosophic Library,
2. Shapiro, A.H., The Dynamics and Thermodynamics of
Compressible Fluid Flow. 2 Vols. John Wiley & Sons,
3. Lonergan
in Insight [1] writes : “ … material reality cannot perform the role or function of
spiritual reality but spiritual reality can perform the role and function of
material reality.”
4. In 2007, , a
preliminary look into the properties of Quadrant II was undertaken. Shortly
before that time, cosmologists had
extended the Chaplygin/tangent gas equation into Quadrant IV in order to
get a negative that would serve to
explain the newly observed acceleration
in the expansion of the universe.
The result of the
2007 investigation was the finding of a negative density and specific volume, and a negative entropy in the Quadrant II depiction of pressure-volume equations of
state. This was interpreted in a preliminary fashion as in the following excerpt:
Excerpt from ‘Science and the Soul/Body Problem “ 2007
[Posted in: www.shroudscience.info
in 2008 ]
“ The UF :(Universal Field) forms in Quadrant II have negative temperature ( Item 3 above). Therefore, the entropy change dS is also negative
dS = dQ/T = dQ/(−T) = −[dQ/T]
While in Quadrant I, with its positive entropy change, the 2nd
law of thermodynamics pushes inexorably towards disorder and random variability,
in the UFII the stable forms are oriented towards order,
design and pattern. This intrinsic orientation points towards the UFII
being a seat of a sensitive, dynamic, capacity and drive towards information
i.e. towards intelligence and
rationality.
(6) The UF in Quadrant II is intrinsically non-quantified. That is to say it can assume any energy value from zero to infinity without change in basic properties. [In Quadrant I, the energetic forms of ordinary matter are intrinsically quantified, since the p-v energy in real gases, for example, has a constant singular value, since pv = const. by definition. Even the UF’s Tangent gas has limits set by the constant B].
(7) The UFII forms might be considered to be able associate naturally with Quadrant I forms, in that both have positive pressure and positive wave speeds. [Their specific densities, however, are opposite in sign].
Clearly, the UF in Quadrant II has properties that are remarkably similar to those listed in Section 3 for the human soul, namely, dynamic energy form, stability of form and subsisting, non-materiality since its energy is not a compressed energy of ordinary Physics or of any oddinary physical matter, intrinsically un-quantified, intelligent since it always seeks order and design, and rejects or resists disorder or random meaningless variability..”
Currently, in 2015,
we would be more inclined to assign the Quadrant II peculiar and
interesting negative physical
properties, not primarily to a soul embodiment, but rather
to a physically rarefied, exotic
or hypothetical scientific “ other
world” existence.
This Quadrant, rarefied, exotic, physical matter could, of course, also be assumed able to be taken into a soul/body embodiment by a spiritual essence or soul , just as we have Postulated for Quadrant I matter in order to explain the intellectual side of our present human existence. Quadants II, III, and IV deserve further careful examination, especially if the model proposed for Quadrant I is scientifically verified.
End of Part II
PART 3
Wave Interactions and
Compressible Flow
3.0 Introduction
Our proposed solution to the problem of Dualism in Part 2 involved
a wave interaction energy 2cV.
The waves we are interested in are compression pulses in a compressible fluid,
i.e. in a fluid capable of experiencing density variations and having a finite
and variable wave speed c, (as opposed to incompressible fluids where the wave
speed is theoretically infinite).
Specifically, these compression
waves are called acoustic or
‘sound’ waves and are described by what is called the Classical Wave Equation.
This equation
will be derived below. It is the description of all stable propagating waves of
compression or rarefaction and of any amplitude, large or small. In
compressible flow physics, the two equations of state for theoretical gases
that support exact classical waves are called the Tangent/Tsien/Chaplygin
Gas and the Orthogonal Gas
3.1 Compressible Flow
The physics of
compressible flow [1,2] embraces many
fields, such as, hydromechanics, aeronautics, meteorology, jet flow, rocket
propulsion, astrophysics and cosmology. Compressible 
flow is intimately linked to fluid wave
motions.
Its equations of
state, describing known, physically
real gases, are usually plotted in Cartesian coordinates on a pressure-
volume or pv-energy
diagram in Quadrant I, where the
thermodynamic variables of pressure p, density or specific volume ρ=1/v ,
temperature T and pv-energy are all positive
quantities. With one exception, the equations of state of gases linking
pressure and specific volume ( i.e. of a
volume of a unit mass of gas v =
1/ρ ) are hyperbolic curves on
the pressure-volume diagram, for example the
Ideal Gas, atmospheric air, oxygen etc.
The exception is a hypothetical, or exotic
compressible fluid called the Tangent Gas
[3]. Its linear equation of state (p = −Av +B)
was formulated in 1939 by H.S. Tsien in
Quadrant I on the Cartesian pressure-volume
energy diagram for aeronauticPs and rocket propulsion, and, in a slightly
different form ( p = −Av ) had
already been formulated in 1904 by S.A. Chaplygin [4] for application to aeronautical problems of jet flow and lift.
Figure 1.
Equations of State.
An extension of this linear Chaplygin
gas equation [ p = −Av] was made in 2001 from Quadrant I into Quadrant
IV in order to obtain a cosmic flow with the negative
pressure needed to explain the
observed acceleration in the rate of expansion of the Universe
[5,6,7] .
This Part 3 will outline the pertinent background physics of compressible fluid flow and its
equations of state.
3.2
Compressible Fluid Flow
Compressible fluids change their shape and
their density more or less readily. Those which are very compressible are
called gases. Since they are subject to density changes as their pressure
varies, they exhibit pressure waves of various sorts. Their
physics [1,2] embraces
compressible fluid mechanics, aeronautics,
meteorology, jet flow, rocket propulsion, astrophysics, shock waves, supersonic
flow, cosmology, etc.
The quality of compressibility makes
possible a wide variety of behavior in gases. Because of it, pressure waves are
possible;, for example, acoustic or
sound waves, shock waves , etc.. The same physical principles also extend to
quantum waves.
In known, or real gases, only compression
waves are persistent, rarefaction waves
simply attenuate and die out. However, no known real gases will support waves
of a finite amplitude --- such waves grow to compression shocks instead. Only
very low amplitude waves, known as acoustic or sound waves, can travel
unchanged for any length of time in real gases. One theoretical gas, however,
known as the Tsien/Chaplygin gas or Tangent gas, is
unique in that it can support finite amplitude
waves of either compression or rarefaction which remain stable.
Expressed another way, we say that ‘these two linear gases ( p = −Av +B)
obey, or support, the classical wave equation’.
The equations of state of most real gases
( linking pressure, volume, density and temperature) are hyperbolic, ( e.g. pv
= RT) and are depicted on the Cartesian pv-energy
diagram in Quadrant I.
The
two principal hypothetical or exotic gases--- Tsien’s
Tangent Gas and Chaplygin’s
negative pressure, cosmological gas----
actually have the same linear equation of state, [p = −Av +B].
2.3 Equations of State of
A. REAL GASES ( Compressible fluid systems)
1. The
Ideal Gas: Isothermal expansion pv =constant =
RT (Hyperbolic curve)
2. Adiabatic expansion: pvk =
constant (Hyperbolic curves)
The p-v plots of both of these real gas types are
hyperbolic curves.
Figure 2.
Cartesian plot of pressure –volume equations of state
in Quadrant I
for the real Ideal gas and its adiabatic expansion
In the adiabatic expansion equation, pvk =
constant, k is the ratio of the specific heats [k = cp/cp.]. For ordinary
atmospheric air, k has the
value of 1.4.
The equation of state
variables are pressure (p) and volume per unit mass ( v = 1/ρ,
where ρ is the fluid density).
B.
HYPIOTHETICAL GASES
1. Tangent Gas / Tsien’s Tangent Gas
: p = −Av + B (
Linear; wave speed c is real and
positive). k = −1
2. Chaplygin’s Gas : p = −
Av+ B
(Linear; wave speed c is
real and positive). k = −1
3. Orthogonal Gas ( Isothermal): p = +Av +B
(Linear; wave speed is complex ic). k = +1
As we shall
see, the plots of the equations of state of these three exotic or hypothetical gases, linking
pressure p and specific volume, v= 1/ρ ,
are linear, i.e. are all
simple straight lines on the pv-energy diagram.
3.4 The Tangent Gas Equation of State; Unique Linear
Fit to the Classical Wave Equation
This
relationship in aeronautics was
formulated in 1939 by Prof. H.S. Tsien, co-founder
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
at Cal Tech, who is also known today as the Father of Chinese
Rocketry. His equation is called the “tangent gas” [1] (Figure 2).
This tangent gas describes the behavior of
a theoretical fluid whose linear equation of state [ p = −Av
+ B] is placed on the pv-energy diagram so as
to lie tangent to an ideal gas
equation of state , or to an adiabatic
expansion equation [Fig.2].
Since
hyperbolic curves are somewhat difficult for manual computation, Tsien in 1939, in
the age of slide rule calculation for engineering work, well before the general
use of computers, introduced this simple
approximate method consisting of drawing a tangent line [p = −Av + B] to the hyperbolic
curves at any desired point. At or
near such a tangent point on the ideal gas or the
adiabatic expansion curve, his ‘tangent gas’ straight line gives results very close to those of the
hyperbolic real gas curve.
The Tangent
gas approximation is unique (1) in that
its equation of state describes the only known fluid, real or theoretical, which
supports stable compression waves of any amplitude [1,8],
that is to say, it will theoretically propagate finite amplitude waves
of expansion and compression without
them becoming unstable and growing to shock waves. This is in contrast to known or real gases, such as the ideal gas or the adiabatic
expansion gas, in which waves of finite
amplitude either die out, or grow unstably to become compression shocks. The tangent gas (Tsien/Chaplygin
gas) is also unique in (2) satisfying
the classical wave equation exactly,
without the approximations required for real gases.
3.5 The
Tangent Gas and Quantum Physics Wave Equations
Quantum physics describes the
world of the very small, namely that of the atom and elementary particles of
matter at a space dimension of around 10-9
m.
Atoms and elementary
particles are described, not as point particles of matter, but instead as wave
packets having a finite dispersion in space. An atom for example is at once a
particle and a wave.
The wave equations describing
the nature and behavior of the atomic and sub-atomic quantum world are
derived from the classical wave
equation as a base,
In quantum physics, various
wave/particle equations are then added to the classical wave equation to obtain
probabilistic wave/particle equations
describing the probable location of the particle in space and its various
quantized` energy levels. For example:
as shown above, the classical wave equation is ( for one dimension
x):
∂2 Ψ/∂x2
= 1/c2 ( ∂2 Ψ/∂t2 )
The Klein-Gordon
equation for a spin-less particle is:
1/c2 ( ∂2
Ψ/∂t2 ) = ∂2
Ψ/∂x2 −( mc2
/h2 ) Ψ,
so that, if the mass m is set to zero, the
Klein-Gordon wave/particle equation
reduces to the classical wave equation.
In a similar manner, the other quantum wave/particle equations,
such as the Schrödinger equation, are derived.
Our point here is that a
basic, starting wave equation for quantum physics is the classical wave
equation.
The wave interactions that go
on in quantum physics lead to interaction energy terms 2cV in the energy
equations of quantum physics. We have then used this quantum physics example of
wave energy unity 2cV emerging from an
interaction duality, to clarify and focus the argument in the Dualism debate in
the Philosophy of Mind.
3.5.1
Wave/ pulse Interaction Energy 2cV
In the case of the classical
wave equation, the wave pulses travel at the sum of the wave speed c plus the flow speed u ( or V)
(dx/dt)I, I = c +
u
where u is the component of V
in the x-direction.
Therefore, the wave pulse energy in the x-direction is the
square of this pulse velocity, that is
EΨ = (dx/dt)2
I, II = ( c+ u )2
= c2 + u2 + 2cu
and 2cu is the interaction
energy between wave and flow in the x direction.
In
three dimensional flow we have then, ( c
+ V)2 = c2 + V2 +2cV.
3.6 The Orthogonal Gas: (Isothermal):
This is a new formulation of
a theoretical gas, orthogonal to the Tangent Gas and with much the same
properties, which has a complex wave
speed (ic) and
may have special pertinence to the theory of the functioning of the human Mind,
since it involves resonance.