Materialism Matters

A short disclaimer before we read further: I’m a materialist. Materialism is a branch of philosophy to which the sciences, particularly the physical and life sciences, owe a lot. Materialism posits that the material world — matter — exists, and everything in the Universe, including consciousness, is made from or is a product of matter. An objective reality exists and we can understand it. Without materialism, physics, chemistry, and biology as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Another branch of philosophy, idealism, is in direct contradiction to materialism. Idealism states that, instead of matter, the mind and consciousness are fundamental to reality; that they are immaterial and therefore independent of the material world.

A lot of scientists and researchers don’t necessarily have a conscious philosophy, or else don’t consider philosophy to be particularly relevant to their day-to-day work. But by not having a conscious philosophy, scientists – like anyone else – can unconsciously pick up other philosophies and outlooks in the society around them.   READ MORE...

Life's Purpose: Do We Exist?

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentiality and actuality.  The word "metaphysics" comes from two Greek words that, together, literally mean "after or behind or among [the study of] the natural". It has been suggested that the term might have been coined by a first century CE editor who assembled various small selections of Aristotle’s works into the treatise we now know by the name Metaphysics (ta meta ta phusika, 'after the Physics ', another of Aristotle's works).

Metaphysics studies questions related to what it is for something to exist and what types of existence there are. Metaphysics seeks to answer, in an abstract and fully general manner, the questions:

• What is there?
• What is it like?

Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. Metaphysics is considered one of the four main branches of philosophy, along with epistemology, logic, and ethics.

EXISTENCE

Existence as defined by the dictionary is:  the fact or state of living or having objective reality.

Objective reality means that something is actual (so it exists) independent of the mind. For example: while no one is nearby, a meteor crashes into a car, putting it on flames, leaving only a pile of ashes.

But, now does one prove that one exists simply because one perceives that one is living in some sort of reality? like an illusion... like a dream... like a fantasy...

The French philosopher Descartes believed that we exist because: "I think therefore I am."
but Descartes was a devout doubter in everything; in fact, his complete philosophical approach was based upon DOUBTING. So, if one thinks, one thinks in the context of doubt... so one would have to doubt that I AM.

So, this does not really help us much... even though DESCARTES' statement is still used today to prove that we exist.

The Movie THE MATRIX perceived existence in a another manner as if we were all in some illusionary dream world that was controlled by some sort of gigantic super computer and a variety of super program applications.

Without proof of existence... Life's Purpose is rather meaningless... wouldn't you say?