RE: Why materialists are predominantly materialists
September 16, 2016 at 7:12 pm
(This post was last modified: September 16, 2016 at 7:15 pm by Simon Moon.)
(September 15, 2016 at 11:31 pm)Bunburryist Wrote: Being an atheist and NOT a materialist (and so being a REAL outsider!), I have always had an interest in the relationship between atheism and materialism, on the one hand, and between materialism and science on the other. Where as most atheists (and non-atheists) conflate materialism and science, I see religion and materialism as BOTH being non-scientific worldviews.
Before I post my website which is composed of a number of talks where I explain my understanding that the materialist worldview is wrong (which I will do when I reach my quota of 30 posts!) I'd like to ask materialists to explain if and why they believe materialism is either necessary to atheism, or at least an important aspect of the view.
I hope that you are not making the assumption that ALL materialists are philosophical materialists, and not what (I believe) most of are, methodological materialists.
I, for example, do not make the claim, with absolute certainty, that the material is all there is. I am willing to accept that the a material realm (have you defined what you mean by the 'non material' yet?) exists, as long as I feel the belief is justified.
As far as science and materialism is concerned, science operates on methodological materialism, not philosophical materialism. All scientists are methodological materialists, but not all are philosophical materialists. If they are not methodological materialists, they are not, by definition, scientists.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
