The Immortal in You: How Human Nature Is More Than Science Can Say

by Michael Augros

Many scientists and philosophers believe that you are no more than a machine. By their account there is no afterlife and you are no better than any other kind of animal. The existence of mankind, according to such thinkers, is purely the outcome of chance events. There never was any tendency, natural or supernatural, to produce life and the human mind. The universe is hostile or indifferent toward you, and you occupy no special place within it. At the heart of this story of mankind lies not science but a rarely expressed philosophical assumption that modern science, at least in principle, tells all there is to know about you and the world. With his unique blend of cogency, clarity, and charm, philosopher Michael Augros hauls that assumption out into the light and demolishes it. The Immortal in You demonstrates how an astute use of common sense and a study of common human experience reveal that there is more to you—much more—than science could possibly say. From the author of Who Designed the Designer?, this modern response to the ancient exhortation "Know thyself" delivers a wealth of fresh, powerful, and uplifting ideas about what it is to be human, which will engage thoughtful readers regardless of their beliefs.

Genres: Religion, Catholic, Philosophy

324 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2017

About the author

B.A., Thomas Aquinas College, 1992; M.A., philosophy, Boston College, 1993; Ph.D., philosophy, Boston College, 1995; Bradley Fellow, 1992-1994; Teaching Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Boston College, 1994-1995; Associate Professor of Philosophy, North American campus of the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum, 1998 to 2009; Vice-President, Institute for the Study of Nature 2006-; President’s Council, The Society for Aristotelian Studies, 2007-; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College 1995-1998, 2009-.

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have an uplifted, fresh, reinvigorated concept of God and why I am and what I am after reading this book. Philosophy, usually, is utterly confusing to me. Dr. Augros with a little help from some friends, has taken a fascinating philosophical proposition - Can one’s immortal nature be derived from our thinking about ourselves? - and carried it to its logical end in a way that made perfect sense and which, even better, I could follow and had fun doing so! If all philosophy were presented this way, well, I suppose professors would not get grants because they wouldn’t sound ‘stuffy’ enough, but normal people like me could learn it, learn how philosophy works and what it teaches. I would like to thank Dr. Augros for the work he did to ‘reach back’ and maybe remember what it was like to be first learning the vocabulary of philosophy and to work to present thought-provoking concepts and conclusions in a way that was engaging to a non-philosopher. I usually never finish philosophy books, but I read every word of this one, even skimming the index. Once I finished the book, I had the thought that I wished I’d written summaries of each chapter so that I could remember the progression of the argument and, voile’, such a summary was included at the end of the book! Fabulous! Bottom line: God is clearer to me than He was before I read this book and I understand His ‘investment’ in my existence, and His plan for my eternity. What else is there??

[Peter Asper · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Immortal in You is a rock-solid explanation, exposition, and presentation of natural philosophy. In it, Mr. Augros gives in-depth insights into the problems of having a realistic philosophy in an age dominated by technological advances and modern science. I believe there is something here for everyone, especially those seeking a clearer understanding of those perennial questions about mankind that never seem to grow old. I will definitely be reading this again and recommend it to anyone who is willing to spend a little bit of time thinking deeply about what they read.

[Jon Wisnieski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult read, but well worth the struggle. The author reasons for the immateriality and immortality of the soul, and the existence of lowercase-g god, without once turning to theology or any religious text, but instead turning to natural philosophy. His descriptions of the distinction between imagination and intellect and his refutation of the claim that we are simply advanced forms of apes as well as the claim that modern science is the only way by which we can know anything objectively true about ourselves stood out the most to me. The fact that the human intellect is dependent upon but not reducible to the brain was also a key take away.

I struggled during the part about the soul being the form of the body, I was having a difficult time conceptualizing this, probably because of my unfamiliarity with Aristotelian terms like matter and form, accidents and substance. Aside from this though I found the book incredibly useful and informative.

[A.J. McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Step number one in reading this book is to ignore the absolutely terrible cover, which looks like a guy being shot in the chest with a death ray. The book itself is brilliant. Augros tackles the question of whether or not we are more than merely material beings by a lucid logic which is applied to no more than our everyday knowledge, and which leads up to proofs of the existence of the soul in a step by step fashion. I can thoroughly recommend this book! I can't give him five stars, though, because he is too dismissive without really giving good reasons of the possibility of reincarnation, which speaking entirely for myself I find much more plausible than some eternal after-life. He also could have given much more attention to tackling the differences between human souls, e.g. why do some people have much more justice in their soul than others? Still, an excellent book.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readable. Humorous. Excellent book.

[Taylor Manookian · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this for philosophy class

[Kyle Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to The Human Person but just longer and more specific. It also gives the argument for the existence of the soul. Would definitely recommend this one too.