×
welcome covers

Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please


If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Dear Socrates

Dear Socrates

Having returned from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First A.D., Socrates has eagerly signed on as a Philosophy Now columnist so that he may continue to carry out his divinely-inspired dialogic mission.

Dear Socrates,

I find myself to be in great awe of the power of the science of physics to explain the workings of this world; indeed, I stand convinced that every process conceivable, including reason and consciousness, will be penetrated by this omnipotent weapon of our mind in the very near time. Thus I ask, why would anybody (including you) in their right mind believe in the existence of anything non-material, such as soul?

Yours truly,
Andrew Polonsky
Kharkiv, Ukraine

Dear Andrew,

Your statement is unexpectedly revealing. Physics will explain even the mind, you say; then you tell us that physics is itself a product or activity of the mind. You also speak of people being in their right mind who will agree with you. Thus: The mind can see that the mind can explain the mind.