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title: "Peter Boghossian on Consciousness and the soul"
description: "Boghossian argues that the soul hypothesis is unfalsifiable and that belief in it persists because of poor epistemic practices, not evidence."
canonical: https://opendoubt.com/people/peter-boghossian/on/consciousness-and-the-soul
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# Peter Boghossian on Consciousness and the soul

> Boghossian argues that the soul hypothesis is unfalsifiable and that belief in it persists because of poor epistemic practices, not evidence.

Position

# Peter Boghossian on _Consciousness and the soul_

Argues againstPhilosopher and author

Boghossian argues that the soul hypothesis is unfalsifiable and that belief in it persists because of poor epistemic practices, not evidence.

Boghossian treats the soul as a paradigm case of a belief held on faith rather than evidence. In his epistemological framework, the soul hypothesis fails the most basic tests: it is unfalsifiable, it generates no testable predictions, and it does no explanatory work that neuroscience cannot do better. Everything attributed to the soul — consciousness, personality, moral sense — changes when the brain changes.

His street epistemology approach to soul beliefs asks believers a deceptively simple question: what would it take to change your mind? If nothing could change their mind, then the belief is not based on evidence and cannot be dislodged by evidence. It is held as a foundational commitment immune to revision, which Boghossian identifies as the defining feature of faith-based belief.

Boghossian is careful to acknowledge that consciousness is genuinely puzzling. He does not claim neuroscience has fully explained subjective experience. But he insists that the existence of a hard problem does not license the postulation of an immaterial soul. Saying 'I don't know how consciousness arises' is epistemically responsible. Saying 'therefore, souls exist' is not.

Key quotes

> “Pretending to know things you don't know is the essence of faith. And believing in a soul is one of the clearest examples.”

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[

Peter Boghossian

Full profile — positions, quotes, and key moments.

](/people/peter-boghossian)[

Consciousness and the soul

The full argument — stated fairly, then answered.

](/arguments/consciousness-and-the-soul)

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