In his work, 50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know, Ben Dupré explains Hilary Putnam's construction of the envatted brain philosophy as follows: "'Imagine that a human being has been subjected to an operation by an evil scientist. The person's brain has been removed from the body and placed in a vat of nutrients which keeps the brain alive. The nerve endings have been connected to a super-scientific computer which causes the person to have the illusion that everything is perfectly normal. There seem to be people, objects, the sky, etc.; but really all the person is experiencing is the result of electronic impulses travelling from the computer to the nerve endings'" (Putnam in Dupré 4).
Where Are the Roots of Existence?
In order to examine the possibility of the envatted brain at great depth, we must first determine where our existence is rooted. Is our awareness in our brain or our body? Is it in our soul? If we have a soul, where is it located? There are endless puzzles to explore on this topic and just as many opinions about how to resolve them. For the purposes of this article, let us assume that our soul perches within our brain. If this is the case, then would it matter if our brain did not reside within our body but within a vat of nutrients?
If our soul is linked with our brain, it should have the capacity to acquire wisdom and fulfill its purpose regardless of whether it is nested inside a skull. If our brains are, in fact, envatted, the main obstacle would be to overcome our subjective perceptions and see the world as it actually is rather than how we wish for it to appear. This, it seems, would be a good idea regardless of where our brain has taken up residence. The question of the soul's tie-in to the brain opens a door to the exploration of where God fits in with the envatted brain philosophy.
Does God Exist?
Though this question is not one that can be answered strictly through intellectual means, it is worthwhile to explore it in terms of the topic at hand. Does the idea of an envatted brain diminish or eliminate God's role in our lives, or can God still exist in this model?
If we are naught but brains connected to a series of electronic impulses, where does God come in? Does it follow that, if God existed, He would not have allowed us to conceive of such notions as the envatted brain, or is it precisely because of the free will he has given us that we can consider this matter? It is quite possible for there to be a duality between the soul and the brain that allows them to exist together, yet each with their own separate purposes.
Our brains intellectualize and categorize each experience that occurs to us or within us. The soul, if it exists, acts as the channel to God or to a higher power, regardless of where it is situated. If the soul does not exist, the brain's location would still be irrelevant, as there would be nothing for it to transcend. What matters, then, is not the location of our brain but the manner in which it perceives its surroundings.
Source:
- Dupré, Ben. 50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know. London: Quercus Publishing Plc, 2007.
Brittney Weber - I play on words like they're a jungle gym, dangling from modifiers and running on sentences.
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