Review of “Neuroscience and Dualism” by Michael Egnor

What is the human mind? What is its relationship to the brain?

These fundamental questions have captivated human thought for millennia. In the chapter “Neuroscience and Dualism” by Michael Egnor, part of the recently published book Minding the Brain (edited by Angus Menuge, Brian Krouse, and Robert J. Marks), Egnor offers a detailed exploration of these enduring philosophical and scientific issues through the lens of his extensive career in neurosurgery and neuroscience.

Review of ”The Origin of Human Language Capacity: In Whose image?” by John W. Oller and John L. Omdahl

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Is human language capacity clear evidence of special creation?
Figure 1. Is human language capacity clear evidence of special creation?

... we see a series of conclusions that the authors bring together for their thesis. We see the incredible richness and complexity of human language systems that is innate in us and unique relative to anything in the animal kingdom. The authors also conclude that this capacity for language bridges that logical gulf that separates mind from matter—a gulf that cannot be crossed without the intervention of a truly transcendent intelligence. They thus answer their final question, “In Whose image?”—it is in the image of God.

The Discovery and Implications of Orphan Genes

The goal of this paper is to review some significant findings from the analysis of genetic sequence data over the last few decades. These results have surprised many biologists and are believed by many to challenge the key assumptions about how life came to exist on this planet. In particular, these recent findings indicate that the diversity of genetic information across the entire range of life forms is much greater than previously known and that this information in the form of protein-coding genes shows that all forms of life are much more distinct from each other at a very fundamental level than ever was previously understood. These results call into question specific key assumptions that make up the evolutionary explanation for life: