materialism

Since piggy never got round to starting his new thread, I thought I would. He can always start another one if this isn't what he was thinking of. In 2002, a book was published called "The Taboo of Subjectivity: Towards a new science of consciousness." It's author was Allan Wallace, who...

Do idealism and materialism differ on ethical and moral grounds? If a robber believes in materialism then he knows his actions will result in the suffering of others, such as a family deprived of food, that cannot be undone in this world. If a robber believes in idealism then he knows the...

There was a thread about Newcomb's paradox before which I participated in. However the thread seems to have disappeared. I can't remember what conclusions I had before, but since last night I have been thinking about it, and I have concluded that it necessarily refutes determinism and therefore...

A poster elsewhere ststed that no on would tell him what a materialist is. Ok, I'll have a go: The world is not made up of two kinds of substance (material and spiritual), but only one. This substance is not primarily "like" an idea, not like a mental object: happy, sad, right, wrong, friend...

Today in Sociology class I thought of something new. I will ask kindly that a$$wipes like lifegazer, iaccus etc. would stay the hell out of this thread unless they have useful unmystical input. You derail my thread and I'll spam you with PMs. Got it? Ok, now that that's out of the way here I...

Then what? Suppose hypothetically that materialism was proved tomorrow. There is a lot of argument about it on the forums, but what I am wondering is, what would change if we knew that it was true? Other than one's understanding of the world... I don't think religious people would have any...

Thus if a hypothetical super being were acquainted with all possible information about the world - which I imagine would consist in a completed physics - would this entail that s/he would know all there is that could be known? Thus would such a super being know what love is, anger is, the feel...

By the tenets of science, theories and hypotheses must be consonant with empirical data. If there are theories and hypotheses which either are not justified by any empirical data, or in principle could not be justified by any empirical data, then they are not scientific. Nevertheless the...

Ha ha! Made ya look. AS

Been having this debate with a Christian friend about the viability of a purely materialist world for a while now. Thought I'd share one of his most recent responses and see how the randiites react in comparison to myself. Youre seeing this in the middle of a debate but I think you can get an...

From here . Does the foregoing consideration not make the materialist metaphysic a rather implausible hypothesis? Comments please :)

http://www.nature.com/nsu/040412/040412-3.html Some people here are clearly running on something more dime-sized.

Go here.

If everything is made up of some type of material substance which operates according to some set of laws, can free will exist in humans? Under this assumption, it would seem to me as if free will couldn't exist since our actions would really just be guided by chemical reactions to certain...

It's a common event on these boards for the terms 'materialist' and 'materialism' to be bandied about. Various other concepts are frequently associated with them, such as 'atheist', 'scientist', 'arrogance', and so forth. Several posters are even known for their habitual division of thought...

RandFan here, Actually I'm not really here. Shhh.... don't tell anyone. I was reading the emergence of the mind thread and came across one of my favorite arguments. Argument: Materialism is demonstrable because damage to the brain directly affects behavior. Rebuttal: If a radio is damaged it...

Christian said this in another thread: Can this person point out why or can someone direct me to the thread he's talking about. I'd love to see the case he makes for this.

Assume that in 100 years time, scientists have built a robot with a computer brain. The robot is able to function like a normal intelligent human. It can read, talk, argue, drive a car, play sport, appreciate art and literature, fall in love and so on. Almost everyone agrees that the robot is...

I find the discussions of materialism on this board very fascinating. Quick question: how do materialists explain the existence of abstract concepts in and of themselves? For example, are concepts themselves considered "material" in some way? How would you classify the "laws of logic" as...

On Materialism (and Other Stuff) I suppose I would be a materialist of sorts, but it seems to me that the criteria we impose on scientific theories already exclude those entities and forces to which no consistent, measurable effects can be attributed. This will always be a lazy, ad hoc approach...

Materialism -wikipedia.org Naturalism -dictionary.com For example, I saw reprise mention he believes in naturalism and not materialism. What's the difference? If I had to guess I'd say that materialism's definition has just evolved into being the same as naturalim due to...

Warning I can not bluff that I know even a tangible amount of knowledge on philosophy, faith, materialism, and quantum physics/mechanics, and the scientific method. this post will be irrational, lacking focus, and full of irrational, illogical, and fallacious statements... forgive me There...

In the last commentary, James Randi explains how he has been accused by believers of being a materialist "locked in a world-view that demands evidence rather than blind faith", he cannot realise that by accepting that he is a materialist, he is holding a metaphysical belief. Yes, Mr. Randi...

I’d like to hear peoples’ viewpoints on this question that’s been nagging me lately. I ask this question because I really don’t know what the various non-materialist viewpoints entail regarding “this thing that appears to be a material universe.” Here’s the main question for this thread: If you...

I wanted to place this quote on its own tread because I think Imanginist has some important points, and this was burried at the bottom of the Materialism thread receiving no attention at all. Love, Socrates

Rather then continue posting my question in the materialism thread I decided to start a new thread with the hope that my question could be answered by an educated person. When I was in schooling long ago I learned materialism as: 1) The definition of the universe is such that all things that...

I decided to make a topic. Because. Well, I want Ian and UCE to explain to me why materialism is, well, silly (that's what they think, obviously). Also, I haven't discussed things in this realm very much, so go easy on me (explain things in ways I can understand).

If I asked the pro-consciousness people what their support is for their view, what would they say? If I asked the pro-materialism people what their support is for their view, what would they say? This thread will explore possible answers to those questions. So here's your chance- lay out the...