Abstract

There is a strong probabilistic case that human cognitive abilities, memories, personalities, thoughts, emotions, conscious awareness, and self-awareness are dependent upon the brain to occur/exist and thus cannot survive the death of the brain. This paper a broad overview of the general lines of evidence that even the highest mental functions are produced by brain activity, evidence that does not sit well with the notion of any sort of soul or ethereal double that can function completely independently of the brain. Yet this notion is presupposed by all versions of the survival hypothesis that do not depend exclusively upon miraculous bodily resurrection. 1. Introduction -- 2. Neuroscientific Evidence for Mind-Brain Dependence -- 3. Animal Evidence for Mind-Brain Dependence -- 4. Evolutionary Evidence for Mind-Brain Dependence -- 5. Does Science Disprove the Soul? -- 6. Causal Closure -- 7. Conclusion