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Letters
Letters
Materialism For… • …and Against • The Real Richard Rorty? • A Phenomenally Pragmatic Point • Death Penalty • Earth: Mostly Harmless? • What about AIDS, eh? • Join the Professionals? • Philosophy & Divination • Minds versus Brains! • The Philosopher as Choreographer
Materialism For…
DEAR EDITOR: In his article, ‘What is Materialism?’ Michael Philips (Philosophy Now, Issue 42) asked whether materialists have to wait for the final, complete theory of physics before knowing what materialism is. I believe that the answer to that question is ‘No’ – in fact one does not need to know any physics to be a materialist.
This is because materialism is a metaphysical theory about the world, formulated prior to physics, rather than being a theory in physics. It is crucially the proposition that the source of all complex, intelligent, mind-like features of the world can be reduced to and shown to be the product of the behaviour of entities that are simple, unintelligent and not mind-like. Life and mind depend on the life-less and mind-less, not, as conceived by religion and idealist philosophy, the other way about.
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