Michael Shermer on Consciousness and the soul
Shermer argues that neuroscience has rendered the soul unnecessary as an explanation for consciousness, which is clearly a product of brain activity.
Michael Shermer addresses the question of the soul in several of his books, consistently arguing that modern neuroscience has made the concept unnecessary. Every aspect of consciousness that was once attributed to the soul — personality, memory, moral reasoning, emotional experience — has been shown to depend on specific brain structures and processes. Damage to the brain reliably alters consciousness; no observation suggests that consciousness can exist without a functioning brain.
Shermer is particularly interested in the near-death experience literature, which he has investigated at length. He argues that the experiences commonly reported — tunnel vision, a feeling of peace, encounters with deceased relatives, a being of light — are consistent with known effects of oxygen deprivation, temporal lobe stimulation, and the release of endorphins during the dying process. They are remarkable neurological events, not evidence of the soul departing the body.
His broader argument is that the soul is a concept that fills a diminishing gap. As neuroscience advances, the territory that required a supernatural explanation shrinks. The pattern is identical to what happened with vitalism in biology: the 'life force' was invoked to explain what seemed inexplicable, and it was abandoned as natural explanations were found. The soul, Shermer predicts, will follow the same trajectory.
“The soul is the last refuge of the vitalist. Everything we once attributed to it has turned out to be a product of the brain.”