I am entirely matter. Suppose everything about me can be explained in terms of matter, in terms of biological, chemical, and electrical processes. Then matter can become conscious, as demonstrated by the fact that I, who am entirely matter, am conscious. So, obviously, “dumb” matter has enormous potential. It can appear as dumb as a rock, but don’t let it fool you. You exist. You are conscious. If you are entirely material, then not so much the worse for you, but so much the better for materialism! Look what matter can do. Clearly, it’s extraordinary. Clearly, I don’t know all matter can do. Let’s call this view “enlightened materialism.” — Art48
So, maybe I do somehow continue to exist. — Art48
I disagree that Consciousness can be satisfactorily explained in purely material terms. Matter can explain Facts, but not Meanings. Yet I don't think of sentient awareness as some supernatural entity like a divinely endowed Soul. Instead, "Consciousness" is the name we give to a mysterious process (function) of complex material organisms (brains). Superficially, the brain may seem like a hydraulic mechanism, but its output, its work, is the production of invisible & intangible concepts (insights, intellect, ingenuity, vision), that would be of no use to creatures with no means to make them personally meaningful. "What matter can do" is to convert ordinary physical Energy into psychic Ideas that can motivate other sentient beings toward cooperative goals ; it transforms physical Nature into metaphysical Culture --- but how?.The materialist/physicalist view is that consciousness can be explained as exclusively a product of biological, chemical, and electrical activity. Consciousness merely is “what the brain does.” People who consider themselves hard-nosed realists often take this view. . . . .
You exist. You are conscious. If you are entirely material, then not so much the worse for you, but so much the better for materialism! Look what matter can do. Clearly, it’s extraordinary. Clearly, I don’t know all matter can do. Let’s call this view “enlightened materialism.” — Art48
Suppose the materialist view is somehow discovered to be 100% correct. — Art48
If I really do cease to exist when I die, then I’ll never know it. If I cease to exist, there’s nothing left to know I no longer exist. — Art48
The problem that introduces is nihilism. Nihilism doesn't have to present itself in a very dramatic form, like a deep sense of foreboding or dread. It can simply manifest as the sense that nothing really matters. So if death nullifies or negates any differences between what beings do in life, that amounts to a form of nihilism, as Neitszche predicted (although of course he didn't believe in trying to cling to anything like belief in an after-life.) — Quixodian
If I really do cease to exist when I die, then I’ll never know it. If I cease to exist, there’s nothing left to know I no longer exist. — Art48
The problem that introduces is nihilism. Nihilism doesn't have to present itself in a very dramatic form, like a deep sense of foreboding or dread. It can simply manifest as the sense that nothing really matters. So if death nullifies or negates any differences between what beings do in life, that amounts to a form of nihilism — Quixodian
By itself, Matter can do nothing. It's merely the inert stuff that Energy acts on. In my post above, I said that "Materialism is missing something fundamental"*1. Actually that missing essence is immaterial Energy (Ergos), which the ancient Greek Atomist/Materialists knew only as a mythical spiritual worker*2, and that modern Materialists typically take for granted. That's because we can see & touch matter, but energy is invisible & intangible. We only know it by its after-effects. Energy is physical only in the sense that it causes the transformations of matter that Physicists are interested in.Look what matter can do. Clearly, it’s extraordinary. — Art48
That's arguable but, in any case, is not what I'm saying and an entirely different question, i.e., does life have meaning? — Art48
You seem to be speaking of nihilism as a sort of psychological condition rather than as a philosophical perspective. — wonderer1
It is unarguable that if it's a FACT that I cease to exist, then I'll never know I'm dead.Because I no longer exist. — Art48
In the exploration of the topic of nihilism, Nietszche is often cited, which puts me at a disadvantage as I am not well acquainted with his writings. But even in terms of general knowledge, his proclamation of the death of God is viewed as a kind of harbinger of the advent of nihilism, on the grounds that it undermines the basis of long-held and deeply-cherished beliefs and doctrines about the ultimate aim of life. — Quixodian
There is a current of thought in modern scientific culture that life itself is a kind of chemical reaction, formed as a consequence of physical causes and operating according to the survival algorithm comprising the neo-darwinian synthesis. Life originates as a kind of biochemical fluke, and human beings an accidental by-product. — Quixodian
Suffice to say, it surfaces as the widely-held feeling that life has no inherent meaning or significance, often accompanied with a encouragement to make the heroic effort to give it the meaning of your own
Finding things meaningful is an evolved aspect of our psychology. — wonderer1
I think that for most of us most of the time, finding things meaningful comes fairly naturally. — wonderer1
So, an appeal to evolutionary theory. But that is not really a philosophy, even though it's often taken as such - it's a biological theory, and viewing motivation solely through that lens is biological reductionism. — Quixodian
'People can perform extraordinary acts of altruism, including kindness toward other species — or they can utterly fail to be altruistic, even toward their own children. So whatever tendencies we may have inherited leave ample room for variation; our choices will determine which end of the spectrum we approach. — Quixodian
This is where ethical discourse comes in — not in explaining how we’re “built,” but in deliberating on our own future acts. Should I cheat on this test? Should I give this stranger a ride? Knowing how my selfish and altruistic feelings evolved doesn’t help me decide at all. — Quixodian
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