Questions tagged [materialism]
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds the fundamental basis of reality is matter and all mental states are caused by states of this material world.
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What is the difference between naturalism and materialism?
What is the difference between naturalism and materialism, if any?
I see definitions of naturalism that say, in effect, it is the belief that there is no supernatural. But what is the supernatural ...
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Why do modern materialists tend to favor determinism?
There seems to be no logical link between matter and determinism (or ideal and indeterminism for that matter). And libertarian free will was first articulated by a materialist, Epicurus, and is ...
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Is there a causal influence of the mental on the physical?
Regardless of whether the mental is ultimately physical or not... doesn't the impact of human knowledge (science, mathematics, etc) on the world (ie: technology, agriculture, basically everything), ...
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How do materialists respond to the thought experiment of the perception of blue and red colors being swapped?
By materialism, I mean the belief that the totality of all in existence is material. That is, particles/waves/energy in the space-time fabric.
If one were to construct a thought experiment that ...
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Can someone be an atheist and subscribe to substance dualism at the same time?
I consider myself to be firmly in the atheist camp. None of the arguments for the existence of a higher being or prime mover convince me, let alone attempts at proving the existence of the old God of ...
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Is materialism essential to scientific progress?
A common argument against any hint of non materialism in science, be it idealism, supernaturalism, substance dualism, etc. is that complete materialism is essential for making scientific progress. I ...
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Who am I? Mind, body, mind and body or something else?
The mind with it's thoughts, emotions, memories, perceptions, and various mental processes. Including the conscious and unconscious aspects of mental activity, shaping one's identity and influencing ...
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How did materialists historically fit magnetism into their model?
Going by its Wikipedia page, materialism has been largely discredited due to advances in physics as it cannot explain phenomena such as gravity which apparently exist without the connivance of matter. ...
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How did George Berkeley justify his disbelief in matter?
I recently read Berkeley's work entitled "Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous" in which he gives an account very similar to that of Kant.
"Appearances, so far as they are thought as objects ...
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Was there support for panpsychism among the Romantic poets?
Phillip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy and vocal critic of religion, is a supporter of panpsychism, the doctrine that consciousness arises because every inanimate particle actually ...
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Scientific stance on 'life from non-life, naturally'?
As far as I'm aware, almost everyone (from Dawkins to Lennox to Hovind) agrees that at some point in the past there was no life in our universe, and currently there is. Therefore life somehow arose ...
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Why is the statement about "Freewill is an illusion" considered profound? [closed]
So my understanding of the "freewill is an illusion" argument is if I know everything about a system since the laws of physics are deterministic the final solution is unique. Anyone who ...
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What are the problems with the argument for the mind-body dualism from immateriality of thoughts?
I have started studying philosophy of mind and I am currently reading an introduction to the field. The first topic that is presented in the book is dualism of the Cartesian brand, and the case for it ...
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What is the difference between Naturalism and Physicalism?
I am trying to figure the difference between Naturalism and Physicalism. As far as I could tell, they were the same thing, except that physicalism (physicalist vs dualist) was the term used when ...
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Please explain perspectivism to me
I was wondering if someone could please explain Nietzsche's perspectivism to me. I used to think that it was similar to Descartes' method of thinking. That everything was subjective because everything ...
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If all we see is the sensible world, what are the proofs to affirm that matter exists?
I am new to philosophy and I have been looking for a way to find answers to my disturbing doubt for a long time, I was reading Berkeley but I did not find a convincing refutation, especially because ...
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How can Marx be a materialist yet still speak of a human "essence" in his theory of alienation?
On one hand, Marx is a staunch materialist: he bases his theory of history on dialectical materialism, and denies any metaphysical realities above and beyond the material conditions that make human ...
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Can science prove or provide evidence that the brain is the source of the mind
I am seeking published discussions or arguments about this proposition, though some discussion here would be useful:
Science can prove or provide significant evidence that the brain is the
source ...
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Does science provide the most accurate depiction of reality for analyzing and describing an accurate worldview?
I've been fighting throughout my philosophical reading with the question of the necessity of science as the only permitted view we (since the late 19th century) have on the world.
My question might ...
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How materialism can be consistent in the context of qualia and simplicity?
Apologies for my English.
Some thoughts from the camp of idealists. :)
The following is the explanation of the question in the title.
I think that the fact that in our days physicists may be ...
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What Does Being Spiritual Mean?
When people say they are spiritual, although atheist, what do they mean, if they mean something at all? Can you claim being spiritual if you don't believe in gods, ghosts and the like?
Is there a ...
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Does materialism presuppose that a self is a bundle of mental states and perceptions?
The physicalist/materialist (going forward I'll use the two interchangeably) position on the mind body problem is the following:
Nothing exits besides the physical and therefore the mind is just a ...
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Are there any physicalist arguments against strong AI?
Are there any arguments against strong AI in principle, given physicalism?
Are there any arguments against strong AI in practice, given physicalism?
Basically, I want to be aware of any potential ...
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Can empiricists and materialists accept metaphysical modality?
There are some propositions such as 1+1=2 that seem to be true in all possible worlds. That is, there is no possible world in which 1+1=2 is not true. Propositions like this that seem to be true in ...
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What do philosophers mean when they say qualia do not exist?
In university, my professor said that his position is that there are no qualia. He acknowledged that non-philosophers can find this position bizarre, but did not explain the rationale behind why he ...
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Henry George vs. Karl Marx
I recently came across some of Marx's critique of Georgism, and was wondering where else the theories of these two thinkers conflict. Georgism to me certainly seems to have a slight materialist bent ...
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Is there a term for materialistic non-determinism?
I was trying to explain to someone that an underlying assumption of science is ... and then couldn't come up with a term to describe it.
What I'm hoping to give a name to, is the idea that the world ...
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Does the existence of colors give evidence against materialism?
It seems to me the only thing about colors that can be understood rationally is that they are distinct. We interact with other people who for the most part label my red as their red, my green as their ...
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Can a rationalist ever be a materialist?
Note that I am using rationalist in its strict philosophical sense, as in rationalist like Descartes or Leibniz, not rationalist as it might be understood colloquially. from the Encyclopedia ...
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What are the rebuttals (if any) to Berkeley's dismissal of "primary qualities"?
I am rereading Berkeley's Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous and am curious about any subsequent works which actively rebut his dismissal of primary qualities.
From the first dialogue:
Phil. ...
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Productive Forces vs. Conditions of Bourgeois Property
In The Communist Manifesto, page 331 of the 2002/2014 Penguin Edition, Marx and Engels write;
"The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the ...
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Thomas Nagels critique of materialism
By materialism I mean that all phenomena can be explained by matter and its interactions.
What are the strongest arguments against materialism? I, being a former materialist, was convinced that ...
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Is there a word for the idea that the world is "a collection of collections"?
I'm looking for a (possibly ontological) recognised term for a theory that acknowledges that things can be broken down into smaller things - essentially components, parts and eventually atoms, quarks ...
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Are there several types of mind-independence?
Mind-independence relates to the famous falling tree nobody sees or hears, but which may still make a sound. We claim that the process is independent of our consciousness, and that therefore the ...
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How did Nietzsche prove his will to power?
Was Nietzsche right about the will to power? Specifically, did he (or any of his interpreters) prove (let's take Kant's system as a cut off for 'proof') that the will to power, either individually or ...
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What is the difference between idealism and materialism?
I understand what materialism is, but idealism - not so much. I know however they are opposing views, and would like to know what are the differences.
Analogies would be greatly appreciated.
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Are there any replies to Searle's philosophy of mind but Bennett's and Hacker's?
For a term paper I am looking for specific responses to Searle's philosophy of mind (though it's hard to even call it that) as presented in Minds, Brains and Science or the paper Consciousness (2000). ...
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What unique ideas does speculative realism present?
Speculative realism seems to be based primarily on opposing the Kantian philosophy of correlationism - I quote Meillassoux:
Correlationism consists in disqualifying the claim that it is possible to ...
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Would there be free will if we assume a stochastic component in the decision making?
I was reading this answer regarding materialism and free will. It says that, under the assumption that there isn't a random process underlying decision making, there is no free will.
And isn't that a ...
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Is the Phaedo relevant to a materialist?
I've just finished reading the Phaedo, and I'm wondering if one does not buy into the mind/body dualism arguments that Socrates advances in the dialogue, is there still anything to learned from it? Is ...
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Understanding Dennett's Philosophy of Mind
Daniel Dennett was a reductionist; he argued that the mind is entirely physical and can be reduced to the physical world. In one his lectures, he spoke about the colors on the American flag and ...
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How can materialists make claims?
I dont have all the modern philosophical terms down, but I cannot see how materialists/physicalists can make any claims. If there is nothing but physical universe, then there is no “truth”. Actually ...
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Are methodological individualism and materialism compatible?
One of the fundamental principles of the Austrian school of economics, particularly the kind promoted by Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, is methodological individualism, according to which the ...
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Paradox for permanent bodies?
For many objects we have the (wrong) intuition, based on our experience, that they are "eternal". As an example, for our purposes, Planets, maybe monuments, ... looks like ever lasting bodies. ...
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Materialism can cover idealism but idealism cannot cover materialism?
It seems to me that materialism can cover idealism, but not the contrary.
A materialist can recognize that reality is in part made of ideas, simply by saying that ideas are made of a bunch of ...
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How do we explain the brain's ability of thinking about non-materialistic concepts? [closed]
Question edited to avoid distraction
If a physical event from a materialistic point of view cannot be good or evil, and the brain is just made of matter, does this mean the concept of good/evil came/...
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Seeking Help on Cartesian Dualism and the Mind-Body Relationship
I'm currently studying philosophy and I'm struggling with the concept of Cartesian dualism, particularly in relation to other theories about the mind-body relationship. I'm wondering if anyone here ...
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Does science forces us to embrace materialism?
This is practically a climate of many of my questions, and it's a simple question with possibly many complex answers, so I'd like to know what you will answer.
Please note this in your answers:
A) I'...
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What does the experience of free will imply in a materialistic worldview?
In responses and comments to Do human thoughts interact with matter?, one answer begins, "Thoughts consist of nerve impulses..."
Which, as I understand the materialist view, is partially correct. ...
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Was Fedorov's cosmism a "materialized Hegelianism"?
In the introduction to Boris Groy’s excellent book Russian Cosmism, which is a compilation of writings from within the Russian cosmist movement, he says the following:
In a sense, Fedorov developed ...
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