Proving God without Dualism: Improving the Swinburne-Moreland Argument from Consciousness

The paper develops a new argument for the existence of God from consciousness that avoids commitment to substance dualism, improving on earlier arguments by Swinburne and Moreland. It addresses the exceptional-point-of-view problem: why a conscious being experiences the point of view of a tiny brain in a vast universe indifferent to which physical entities it produces. The argument suggests that theism offers a better explanation than atheism for this coincidence, without requiring the ontological commitments of substance dualism.

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Abstract

AbstractWith substance dualism and the existence of God, Swinburne (2004,The Existence of God, Oxford University Press, Oxford) and Moreland (2010,Consciousness and the Existence of God, Routledge, New York) have argued for a very powerful explanatory mechanism that can readily explain several philosophical problems related to consciousness. However, their positions come with presuppositions and ontological commitments which many are not prepared to share. The aim of this paper is to improve on the Swinburne-Moreland argument from consciousness by developing an argument for the existence of God from consciousness without being committed to substance dualism. The argument proceeds by suggesting a solution to the exceptional-point-of-view problem, i.e., the question how it can be explained that there is a conscious being lucky enough to experience the point of view of a relatively tiny brain amidst a giant universe that is indifferent about which physical entities it brings about according to the laws of physics.