Head to head
Eliminative Materialism vs Spira’s Non-Duality
Churchland’s Eliminative Materialism and Spira’s Non-Duality, compared field by field from their entries in the Atlas.
At a glance
- Eliminative Materialism belongs to the Materialism family in Kuhn's Landscape of Consciousness, Spira’s Non-Duality to Idealism.
- On life after death, Eliminative Materialism says “No” and Spira’s Non-Duality says “Yes”.
- On meaning and purpose, Eliminative Materialism says “Humanistic only” and Spira’s Non-Duality says “Cosmic/Ultimate”.
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The claim
In brief
Eliminative MaterialismPaul and Patricia Churchland hold that common-sense psychology, our everyday talk of beliefs, desires, and experiences, is a radically false theory that a completed neuroscience will displace rather than smoothly reduce. Consciousness as we ordinarily conceive it is a brain-generated picture shaped by evolution, and our self-understanding, introspection included, will be rebuilt in neuroscientific terms.
Spira’s Non-DualityThis theory proposes that ultimate reality is a single, infinite, and indivisible pure consciousness (non-duality), from which all objects and individual selves derive their apparently independent existence. It asserts that our essential nature, which is this pure consciousness, transcends the limits and destiny of the physical body and mind.
What consciousness is
Eliminative MaterialismWhat we call consciousness, as folk psychology describes it, does not exist in that form. The real phenomena are neural processes, which only a mature neuroscience will describe correctly.
Spira’s Non-DualityConsciousness is identified as the single, infinite, and indivisible reality (pure consciousness) from which all apparent objects and individual selves derive their existence.
Big questions
Eliminative MaterialismNo position
Spira’s Non-DualityNoIf consciousness is the singular, non-material ultimate reality, artificial systems (being derived/material objects) cannot achieve true consciousness, only a functional imitation or borrowing of existence from the ultimate reality.
Eliminative MaterialismNoSince the mind is the brain, nothing mental survives the brain’s death.
Spira’s Non-DualityYesThe theory explicitly states that our essential nature, being pure consciousness, does not share the limits or destiny of the body and mind, implying survival or continuity beyond biological dissolution.
Eliminative MaterialismNo position
Spira’s Non-DualityNot neededSince the essential self is fundamentally non-physical, infinite consciousness, digital duplication of the body/mind is unnecessary for the persistence of the essential self.
Eliminative MaterialismHumanistic onlyPatricia Churchland urges us to see ourselves as organisms in nature, understood by scientific methods, with no cosmic purpose.
Spira’s Non-DualityCosmic/UltimateConsciousness is the foundation of reality ('the nature of reality') and understanding this non-dual essence is the key to achieving ultimate peace and happiness, providing inherent cosmic purpose.
Nature of mind
Ontology
Eliminative MaterialismPhysicalism (eliminative)
Spira’s Non-DualityOntological Idealism. The theory posits consciousness as the ultimate, singular, fundamental existent.
Mind and body
Eliminative MaterialismThe mind is the brain. Patricia Churchland calls her program a ‘unified theory of the mind-brain’ and treats claims that mind goes beyond brain as the residue of folk myths.
Spira’s Non-DualityThe essential nature of the self (consciousness) is held to be independent of the physical body and mind. Physical existence, and all experience, is mediated through the mind, which is derived from the fundamental consciousness.
Fundamental or emergent
Eliminative MaterialismNeither
Spira’s Non-DualityPrimitive/Fundamental
Qualia
Eliminative MaterialismQualia as folk psychology and philosophers conceive them are expected to give way to neuroscientific description; the view treats consciousness as a kind of illusion generated by the brain.
Spira’s Non-DualityQualia (multiplicity and diversity of experience) are seen as manifestations or derivations of the underlying singular pure consciousness, borrowing their apparent independent existence from it.
How it works
Mechanism
Eliminative MaterialismTheory displacement. Folk psychology will be replaced the way outdated scientific theories were, its principles and ontology discarded rather than mapped onto brain states.
Spira’s Non-DualityNon-Duality, defined by the ultimate identity between the essence of the self and the ultimate reality (pure consciousness).
Where it is
Eliminative MaterialismIn the brain.
Spira’s Non-DualityUbiquitous/Cosmic. Consciousness is the underlying reality (single, infinite, indivisible) that pervades and underpins all existence.
What it does
Eliminative MaterialismBehavior is caused by neural processes; neuroscience is expected to explain it better than folk psychology does.
Spira’s Non-DualityConsciousness functions as the ontological source of all existence. Achieving the recognition of this pure consciousness is tied to the ultimate goal of finding lasting peace and happiness.
Evidence and criticism
Testability
Eliminative MaterialismConceptually testable
Spira’s Non-DualitySpeculative/Conceptual. The theory relies on philosophical and spiritual recognition of ultimate reality rather than empirical methods based on third-person observation.
Tests so far
Eliminative MaterialismThe view stakes its claim on the future course of neuroscience; whether folk categories survive in mature brain science is the long-run test.
Spira’s Non-DualityNot stated
Criticisms
Eliminative MaterialismCritics say denying subjective experience defies both intuition and direct evidence; Galen Strawson calls the denial of experience ‘the strangest thing that has ever happened in the whole history of human thought’. There is also tension between Patricia Churchland’s talk of reduction to neurobiology and the eliminativist claim that folk psychology will be displaced rather than reduced.
Spira’s Non-DualityLike other Idealist theories, it faces the challenge of explaining precisely how the fundamental, non-material consciousness generates or interacts with the apparent physical world and matter.
Sources
Key sources
Eliminative Materialism
- Neurophilosophy, Patricia Churchland (1986)
- Churchland’s Eliminative Materialism (Landscape of Consciousness), Patricia Churchland
Spira’s Non-Duality
- Rupert Spira Website: Introduction to Non-Duality (n.d.)