The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy Is Unwarranted

The fear that interactionist dualism is committed to denying the law of conservation of mass and energy is thought to lead this metaphysical position -- and in turn dualism in general, many believe -- to a bankruptcy. Interactionist dualism has enormous difficulties, but, I shall argue, its (alleged) violation of the law of the conversation of mass and energy is not one of them. For to the extent that this law is interpreted in a way according to which it may be taken to undermine interactionist dualism, it does not have the empirical support required for acceptance. We only have evidence for the claim that physical-physical interactions preserve energy, and if -- as dualists maintain -- the physical is not everything there is, this claim is of no relevance to the stronger claim that energy is always preserved.