"The materialist viewpoint states that we are, fundamentally, made only of physical materials. In this view, the brain is a system whose operation is governed by the laws of chemistry and physics-- with the end result that all of your thoughts, emotions, and decisions are produced by natural reactions following local laws to powest potential energy. We are our brain and its chemicals, and any dialing of the knobs of your neural system changes who you are."The Eagleman book that quote is from, Incognito: The Secret Lives Of The Brain, is a journey into the subconscious which serves as an excellent introduction to the fascinating world of neurobiology. When you are an atheist and are identified at a gathering as such, you are often asked very long-winded questions about the creation of life, the cosmos, and the soul by those with a religion to answer these questions for them. Unless you are a scientific genius yourself, it can be overwhelming to face people who feel it is your responsibility to provide the answers to questions it has taken science millenia to even come close to solving. So it helps to have a book like Eagleman's to explain the science in a clear, understandable, and entertaining fashion.
The above quote about the philosophical view of materialism, while never mentioning the soul, is a direct retort to any worldview which attempts to explain human behavior as having an amorphous, indescribable engine behind it. Indeed, all human behavior, from crying out of the womb to drafting a will, is driven by the baseball-sized glob of neurons and biological gelatin behind your forehead and under your scalp. This view of humanity is, from a theist's standpoint, rather unpoetic and unsatisfying. Guess what? I don't care. The correct explanation is not the one that is most settling, or the most comforting. Galileo knew this when he endorsed the Copernican view that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. The history of science can be described as diminishing the value of human life until we are only slightly more important than the bacteria under our feet. I'm sorry if this is an unsatisfying view, but the universe does not exist for our own satisfaction.
What the materialist worldview presents is the idea that we are merely the functions of physical systems. Throughout Incognito, Eagleman raises examples of how dependent our judgement and actions are upon our brains. This is not to say that the scientific world currently has explanations for every perceptible action we commit; the key word is "currently." Are there some things science may never discover? Certainly (though particle physics seems to have a lot more questions to answer than neuroscience). But this is not reason to chalk up mysteries to fairies, gods, or spirits. Holes have been left in science for centuries that are just in the past few decades being filled. The important thing to remember is not to pretend we know the answers to things we (currently) do not.
The soul is a comforting thought. It attaches meaning and responsibility to our actions and emotions. The organ that makes your heart tick on time, that reminds you how to ride a bicycle, that allows you type while looking away from the keyboard; that's the brain, most people say. But how I love my partner, how I feel about God, my morals and values and virtues; those are the surely the soul. If you agree with this, you're creating a needless agent for aspects neuroscience already can explain with the brain. Occam's Razor 101.
The main opponent to materialism is merely human emotion. It isn't a pleasant thought to believe that all that you love, all that you hate, all you distrust, and all you save are the products of chaotic and fragmented electrical signals. However, it isn't just our emotions that are trapped in the brain. All those physical machinations actually are ourselves. The brain is not a tool we use to drive the body because we are that tool. Your ability to read this article, your forming opinion of the topics I bring up, and any response you may give are all the products of an unimaginably-complicated physical organ. And when your brain stops, so do you.
Again, this isn't the happiest worldview, but there is beauty to see. Consider the lowly brain functions of ants, which express little emotion other than hunger and fear. Or consider the aforementioned bacterium and single-celled organisms. They have no brain to speak of, no manner of perceiving the world other than simple sensors which guide them towards proteins and lipids. Millions and millions of years of evolution has produced this deceptively-simple organ inside our heads which actually stores the full range of human action and reaction. The decision to get a venti or grande is handled by the same organ which tells you to stay or leave the scene of an accident, respond or ignore an attractive person who confronts you, or start a nuclear war. All the majesty and anger and awe we see in art, poetry, and music is actually a natural product of a handful of jelly inside your head. Now that's satisfying.
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