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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Was Nietzsche an amoralist?
Was Friedrich Nietzsche against morality, or at least in favor of not giving it importance? For example, what would Nietzsche think of someone who qualifies for what he considers the Ubermensch or ‘...
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Type of mapping between subjective experience and the physical configuration?
It seems undeniable to me if I specify the physical configuration (of the brain), then there is a mapping to our subjective experience. Are there any clever arguments on the kind of mapping there is ...
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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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What are reasonable counter objections to the argument that materialism is incoherent because it conceptually separates Being and Mentality?
Appreciate the time. This is my first post.
I have looked at various resources and I've found that there's an aspect inherent to materialism/physicalism that gets overlooked and that I find central. ...
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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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Do meanings of statements exist?
It was suggested to me in another thread that materialism is self defeating. But when I looked at the reason for that statement I found confusion in the argument.
(4) MATERIALISM
[Definition] The ...
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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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Illusionism in the philosophy of mind
Illusionism is a branch of materialism which argues that phenomenal properties of consciousness aren't ontologically subjective. Illusion is that we tend to think it is, hence the name. Ontologically, ...
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Ethics of the unborn/non-sentient - Conflicting ideas
I hold two positions that I find to be conflicting with each other, and I wanted to see where I am going wrong.
The first position is that moral weight is predicated on sentience, something lacking ...
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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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Is atheism religion with all attributes? [closed]
To people who are believers, that science proved that God doesn’t exists, I want to remind that science tell that consciousness doesn’t exist too, however obviously consciousness exists.
I guess ...
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Why we haven’t observed any galactic civilization of III or IV type? [closed]
This question is scoped to natural philosophy.
The study of natural philosophy seeks to explore the cosmos by any means necessary to understand the universe
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Is having infinite amount of a quantity same as having none of it? [closed]
Ithink that if you have an infinite amount of material, you actually have none of it. I interpret this as you having imaginary material.
Am I correct in making this assessment?
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Interpreting this paragraph from Schopenhauer
I've read some posts here citing this very interesting paragraph (extract pasted below) from Schopenhauer, a refutation of materialism as ultimate explanation of reality:
Of all systems of philosophy ...
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Is consciousness fundamental to the universe?
In January 2023, Entropy published a paper entitled "Fusions of Consciousness" by Hoffman, Prakash and Prentner. They propose that consciousness is fundamental to the universe, rather than ...
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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 in a purely physical universe would a perfect recreation of a human not necessarily imply a "transfer" of its conciousness? [closed]
I've been kicking around this idea for a while and I have attempted to propose it in different forums yet the idea is treated as illogical but I cannot find/understand why it would be so impossible.
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Are the interests of every bourgeois person (not just the class in general) against the working class?
Are the interests of every bourgeois person (not just the class in general) always against those of the working class? I'm just intrigued whether a socialist bourgeois is necessary acting against ...
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Is liberal economics theory materialist?
I know only about a few liberal economists who directly adhered to philosophical materialism, while not all were vocal about it (Locke, Adam Smith, Voltaire, David Friedman*). I am not completely sure ...
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Does utilitarianism imply materialism?
Does utilitarianism imply materialism?
Utilitarianism has for one component epicurianism, which is a materialist philosophy, and also consequentialism which cares about real life consequences of ...
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How shall I understand these two "oppositions": pragmatism against idealism, positivism against irrationalism?
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-philosophy/The-19th-century says
As for the 19th century, however, if one single feature of its thought could be singled out for emphasis, it might be called ...
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How exactly does representational theory of mind help resolve the materialist problem of a qualia without physical origin?
I was reading this stanford entry and I can't understand how representationalism helps overcome the problem of a sensory quality without external origin that otherwise undermines belief in materialism....
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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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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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Am I a materialist?
I believe that there is nothing even close to non-trivial certainty in philosophy, at least outside of ethics and psychology. For this reason, I believe in monism at about 60%. Furthermore, I believe ...
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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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Is there a privileged link between materialism and natural sciences? [closed]
Is there a privileged link between materialism and natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), which study the physical world?
(1) Extreme supposition: is it contradictory to do natural ...
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Arguments against idealism / arguments against materialism
Are there any counter-argument to these arguments against idealism on the one hand, materialism in the other?
(1) Argument against idealism.
What is the relationship between idealists and their bodies?...
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How to make the notion of materialism testable/falsifiable?
The whole idea behind the scientific method is that reality is material in nature, is there any way that we could test this notion? All attempts by the scientific method to prove or substantiate the ...
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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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