Consciousness, Soul and Human Identity

Consciousness includes first-person experience, awareness and the ability to report mental states. Neuroscience studies correlations between brain activity and experience; such correlations do not alone settle every philosophical question about identity or the soul. Islamic discussions of the nafs and ruh must be grounded in the meanings and limits of their textual sources. Compare bodily continuity, memory and moral responsibility as proposed criteria of personal identity. Avoid the unsupported inference that an unexplained feature of consciousness is itself a proof of a particular theological model.