Quite often on the Internet and in writing we encounter the thoughts of someone speaking his mind about dualism in philosophy. Usually he finds the idea ultimately somehow distasteful. He looks for a deep unity to Being. In science he wants to overcome the mind-body dualism. He may look forward to a time when there is a physical explanation of consciousness. He feels that he wants that. It seems to me though that this particular dualism has become so turbid and riled up in our philosophical history that we can hardly think it clearly. So I propose a slightly different version of the same thing. Let us consider the everyday phenomena of water and H2O. Consider the simple wetness of water, its crystalline brilliance, its smooth flow, its refreshing touch, its sweet taste, its gurgling sound and on and on. Now consider the physical "explanation" of that.
We have long ago gone past atoms and molecules; we are now as far as the 12-diminsional banes of string theory. Let's just imagine that such a theory turns out to be pretty much true and that it is offered to us as an explanation of what water, with all the qualities mentioned above, actually is. After a moment's reflection and gathering up courage we will tell the "explainer" that he is a fucking idiot. Water most certainly is not a 12-D bane structure. Water is water and if it is sometimes associated with such a space-time geometrical structure then that association is only a mere association; it is most emphatically not what water is. Those who are afraid of offending the religion of science will stare in amazement that you could utter such heresy. So be it. Now there is a dualism for you. And explaining one part of it by means of the other is utter nonsense!
-- Gary Smith
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