Materialism

qas: question: What is materialism?
answers: text: a form of philosophical monism

question: In nature, this is an essential substance?
answers: text: matter

question: What is not a fundamental substance in nature? 

question: Mental phenomena and what else are not identical with material interactions?

question: What is the definition of philosophical monism?
context: Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all phenomena, including mental phenomena and consciousness, are identical with material interactions.

qas: question: What are some examples of philosophical physicalism?
answers: text: spacetime, physical energies and forces, dark matter

question: Some people consider physicalism to be synonymous with what?
answers: text: Materialism

question: What is the definition of non-physicalism? 

question: What is the definition of non-materialism?

question: What has devolved from materialism? 

question: What term is not preferred over materialism? 
context: Materialism is closely related to physicalism, the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Philosophical physicalism has evolved from materialism with the discoveries of the physical sciences to incorporate more sophisticated notions of physicality than mere ordinary matter, such as: spacetime, physical energies and forces, dark matter, and so on. Thus the term "physicalism" is preferred over "materialism" by some, while others use the terms as if they are synonymous.

qas: question: What class does materialism belong to?
answers: text: monist ontology

question: Why does materialism belong in monist ontology?

question: Monist ontology is the same as dualism and what else? 

question: Materialism is the same as idealism, neutral monism, and what else? 

question: What is the definition of neutral monism?

question: What is synonymous with dualism? 
context: Materialism belongs to the class of monist ontology. As such, it is different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism. For singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism would be in contrast to idealism, neutral monism, and spiritualism.

qas: question: What is the first question to ask in order to define the two classes?
answers: text: "what does reality consist of?"

question: What is the second question to ask in order to define the two classes?
answers: text: "how does it originate?"

question: An idealist considers what as the most important?
answers: text: spirit or mind or the objects of mind (ideas)

question: A materialist considers what as the most important?
answers: text: matter

question: What is the last question to ask in order to define the two classes?

question: A materialist considers what as the least important?

question: A materialist considers what as the second to least important?

question:  An idealist considers what as the least important?

question:  An idealist considers what as the second to least important?
context: Despite the large number of philosophical schools and subtle nuances between many, all philosophies are said to fall into one of two primary categories, which are defined in contrast to each other: Idealism, and materialism.[a] The basic proposition of these two categories pertains to the nature of reality, and the primary distinction between them is the way they answer two fundamental questions: "what does reality consist of?" and "how does it originate?" To idealists, spirit or mind or the objects of mind (ideas) are primary, and matter secondary. To materialists, matter is primary, and mind or spirit or ideas are secondary, the product of matter acting upon matter.

qas: question: Was René Descartes an idealist or a materialist?
answers: text: materialist

question: Materialism does not define what?
answers: text: how material substance should be characterized.

question: Why was René Descartes declared a materialist? 

question: What does materialism say about how substance should be characterized?

question: Materialism defines what?

question: Materialism is not frequently assimilated to what? 
context: The materialist view is perhaps best understood in its opposition to the doctrines of immaterial substance applied to the mind historically, famously by René Descartes. However, by itself materialism says nothing about how material substance should be characterized. In practice, it is frequently assimilated to one variety of physicalism or another.

qas: question: What type of materialism defined the Marxist philosophy?
answers: text: dialectical materialism

question: When was Karl Marx born?

question: When was Friedrich Engels born? 

question: Which era of Marxists rejected the notion of dialectical materialism? 

question: Who was Karl Marx's enemy? 

question: What type of materialism did not define the Marxist philosophy?
context: During the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels extended the concept of materialism to elaborate a materialist conception of history centered on the roughly empirical world of human activity (practice, including labor) and the institutions created, reproduced, or destroyed by that activity (see materialist conception of history). Later Marxists developed the notion of dialectical materialism which characterized later Marxist philosophy and method.

qas: question: Who coined the Axial Age?
answers: text: Karl Jaspers

question: In what part of the world did materialism develop during the Axial Age?
answers: text: Eurasia

question: Who coined the non-Axial Age?

question: In what part of the world did materialism develop during the non-Axial Age?

question: When was Karl Jaspers born? 

question: When did Karl Jaspers die?

question: What did not develop in Eurasia?
context: Materialism developed, possibly independently, in several geographically separated regions of Eurasia during what Karl Jaspers termed the Axial Age (approximately 800 to 200 BC).

qas: question: Around what time did materialism become part of Ancient Indian philosophy?
answers: text: 600 BC

question: At that time, who helped develop materialism?
answers: text: Ajita Kesakambali, Payasi, Kanada, and the proponents of the Cārvāka school of philosophy

question: What school advanced atomism?
answers: text: Nyaya–Vaisesika school

question: Between what years did the school advance atomism?
answers: text: 600 BC - 100 BC

question: Around what time did Ancient Indian philosophy reject materialism?

question:  At that time, who rejected the idea of materialism?

question:  What school did not teach atomism?

question: What tradition did the Jaina school stop?

question: What tradition did Buddhists stop?
context: In Ancient Indian philosophy, materialism developed around 600 BC with the works of Ajita Kesakambali, Payasi, Kanada, and the proponents of the Cārvāka school of philosophy. Kanada became one of the early proponents of atomism. The Nyaya–Vaisesika school (600 BC - 100 BC) developed one of the earliest forms of atomism, though their proofs of God and their positing that the consciousness was not material precludes labelling them as materialists. Buddhist atomism and the Jaina school continued the atomic tradition.

qas: question: Materialism is linked to what?
answers: text: reductionism

question: Why is materialism is not linked to reduction?

question: Why did Jerry Fodor disagree with this view? 

question: What is not a special science?

question: What level physics does psychology and geology use? 
context: Materialism is often associated with reductionism, according to which the objects or phenomena individuated at one level of description, if they are genuine, must be explicable in terms of the objects or phenomena at some other level of description — typically, at a more reduced level. Non-reductive materialism explicitly rejects this notion, however, taking the material constitution of all particulars to be consistent with the existence of real objects, properties, or phenomena not explicable in the terms canonically used for the basic material constituents. Jerry Fodor influentially argues this view, according to which empirical laws and explanations in "special sciences" like psychology or geology are invisible from the perspective of basic physics. A lot of vigorous literature has grown up around the relation between these views.

qas: question: De Rerum Natura is a poem by who?
answers: text: Lucretius

question: What kinf of explanation does De Rerum Natura provide for phenomena?
answers: text: mechanistic explanations

question: What kind of explanation does De Rerum Natura argue for rejecting phenomena?

question: Who wrote the line "Everything can touch body but body"?

question: Who believed space was not another kind of being?

question: Whose view believes that there is more than matter and void?

question: How many languages was De Rerum translated into?
context: Ancient Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaxagoras (ca. 500 BC – 428 BC), Epicurus and Democritus prefigure later materialists. The Latin poem De Rerum Natura by Lucretius (ca. 99 BC – ca. 55 BC) reflects the mechanistic philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus. According to this view, all that exists is matter and void, and all phenomena result from different motions and conglomerations of base material particles called "atoms" (literally: "indivisibles"). De Rerum Natura provides mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as erosion, evaporation, wind, and sound. Famous principles like "nothing can touch body but body" first appeared in the works of Lucretius. Democritus and Epicurus however did not hold to a monist ontology since they held to the ontological separation of matter and space i.e. space being "another kind" of being, indicating that the definition of "materialism" is wider than given scope for in this article.

qas: question: Name the title of the work by Jayaraashi Bhatta.
answers: text: Tattvopaplavasimha ("The upsetting of all principles")

question: Which type of philosphy did not continue after 1400?
answers: text: materialistic Cārvāka philosophy

question: What is Sarva-darśana-samgraha?
answers: text: a digest of all philosophies

question: Who wrote the Sarva-darśana-samgraha?
answers: text: Madhavacharya

question: What does Jayaraashi Bhatta mean?

question: When did Jayaraashi Bhatta die?

question: What philosphy continued after 1400?

question: What text did Madhavacharya quote from?

question: When was Jayaraashi Bhatta born?
context: Later Indian materialist Jayaraashi Bhatta (6th century) in his work Tattvopaplavasimha ("The upsetting of all principles") refuted the Nyaya Sutra epistemology. The materialistic Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400. When Madhavacharya compiled Sarva-darśana-samgraha (a digest of all philosophies) in the 14th century, he had no Cārvāka/Lokāyata text to quote from, or even refer to.

qas: question: What is the name of the novel written by Ibn Tufail?
answers: text: Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus)

question: When was Ibn Tufail born?

question: When did Ibn Tufail die?

question: In what book did Hayy ibn Yaqdhan foreshadow the idea of modern materialism? 

question: What book by Ibn Tufail did not discuss materialism? 
context: In early 12th-century al-Andalus, the Arabian philosopher, Ibn Tufail (Abubacer), wrote discussions on materialism in his philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus), while vaguely foreshadowing the idea of a historical materialism.

qas: question: Pierre Gassendi lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1592-1665

question: René Descartes lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1596-1650

question: abbé Jean Meslier lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1664-1729

question: Denis Diderot lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1713-1784

question: William Wordsworth lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1770-1850

question: Who agreed with Pierre Gassendi?

question: Who disagreed with Paul-Henri Thiry Baron d'Holbach? 

question: Who did not see matter as endowed with moral dimension?

question: William Wordsworth was not impacted by which thinker?

question: Who provided the non-natural sciences with dualist foundations?
context: The French cleric Pierre Gassendi (1592-1665) represented the materialist tradition in opposition to the attempts of René Descartes (1596-1650) to provide the natural sciences with dualist foundations. There followed the materialist and atheist abbé Jean Meslier (1664-1729), Julien Offray de La Mettrie, the German-French Paul-Henri Thiry Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), the Encyclopedist Denis Diderot (1713-1784), and other French Enlightenment thinkers; as well as (in England) John "Walking" Stewart (1747-1822), whose insistence in seeing matter as endowed with a moral dimension had a major impact on the philosophical poetry of William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

qas: question: Arthur Schopenhauer lived from what year to what year?
answers: text: 1788-1860

question: What did he say that the brain would decide?
answers: text: how material objects will be experienced or perceived

question: Who wrote that "...materialism is not the philosophy of the subject who forgets to take account of himself"

question: Who claimed that a non-observing subject can only know material objects through the mediation of the brain and its particular organization?

question: Who believed the brain is not a determiner of how material objects are experienced? 

question: What does the brain not decide? 

question: What does it mean for the brain to be a non-determiner? 
context: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) wrote that "...materialism is the philosophy of the subject who forgets to take account of himself". He claimed that an observing subject can only know material objects through the mediation of the brain and its particular organization. That is, the brain itself is the "determiner" of how material objects will be experienced or perceived:

qas: question: Who wrote "The Essence of Christianity"?
answers: text: Ludwig Feuerbach

question: In what year was "The Essence of Christianity" written?
answers: text: 1841

question: What did the author of "The Essence of Christianity" consider religion to be?
answers: text: the outward projection of man's inward nature

question: The author's ideas would later influence what well known philosopher?
answers: text: Karl Marx

question: What German materialist did not signal a new turn in materialism?

question: When was Ludwig Feuerbach born?

question: When did Ludwig Feuerbach die? 

question: Karl Marx was not influenced by who? 

question: When did Karl Marx write The Essence of Christianity?
context: The German materialist and atheist anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach would signal a new turn in materialism through his book, The Essence of Christianity (1841), which provided a humanist account of religion as the outward projection of man's inward nature. Feuerbach's materialism would later heavily influence Karl Marx.

qas: question: In regards to the mind, what are 3 theories that modern day philosophers try to harmonize?
answers: text: functionalism, anomalous monism, identity theory

question: What are 3 theories that ancient day philosophers try to harmonize?

question: What 3 theories do modern philosophers disagree with? 

question: What are the three theories that do not accommodate mind?

question: Jerry Fodor disagrees with what framework?

question: Daniel Dennett founded which theory?
context: Many current and recent philosophers—e.g., Daniel Dennett, Willard Van Orman Quine, Donald Davidson, and Jerry Fodor—operate within a broadly physicalist or materialist framework, producing rival accounts of how best to accommodate mind, including functionalism, anomalous monism, identity theory, and so on.

qas: question: What is hyle?
answers: text: matter

question: What has never been debated? 

question: What is the opposite of hylomorphism?

question: What is the opposite of atomism?

question: What is the term for zero kinds of matter? 

question: What is the term for lacking then gaining properties? 
context: The nature and definition of matter - like other key concepts in science and philosophy - have occasioned much debate. Is there a single kind of matter (hyle) which everything is made of, or multiple kinds? Is matter a continuous substance capable of expressing multiple forms (hylomorphism), or a number of discrete, unchanging constituents (atomism)? Does it have intrinsic properties (substance theory), or is it lacking them (prima materia)?

qas: question: Relativity illustrates that what is interchangeable?
answers: text: matter and energy

question: Ontological theory suggests that what is the main substance?
answers: text: energy

question: Quantum field theory suggest what is the main substance?
answers: text: fields

question: Relativity says that what is not interchangeable?

question:  Ontological theory determines what is not the main substance?

question:  Quantum field theory determines what is not the main substance?

question: When did the field of physics stop being taught?
context: One challenge to the traditional concept of matter as tangible "stuff" came with the rise of field physics in the 19th century. Relativity shows that matter and energy (including the spatially distributed energy of fields) are interchangeable. This enables the ontological view that energy is prima materia and matter is one of its forms. On the other hand, the Standard Model of Particle physics uses quantum field theory to describe all interactions. On this view it could be said that fields are prima materia and the energy is a property of the field.

qas: question: Which model suggests that matter is 5% of the universe?
answers: text: Lambda-CDM model

question: What type of matter does the model consider it to be?
answers: text: dark matter

question:  Which model suggests that matter is 0.5% of the universe?

question:  What type of matter does the model believe it to not be?

question: The standard model believes none of the universe is composed of what?
context: According to the dominant cosmological model, the Lambda-CDM model, less than 5% of the universe's energy density is made up of the "matter" described by the Standard Model of Particle Physics, and the majority of the universe is composed of dark matter and dark energy - with little agreement amongst scientists about what these are made of.

qas: question: Werner Heisenberg suggested that atoms are not what?
answers: text: things

question:  Werner Heisenberg believes that atoms are defined as what?

question: Who do not believe a switch from materialism to physicalism is necessary? 

question: Who said "This extrapolation, however, is impossible... atoms are lots of things"

question: Scientists believed that the concept of matter did not change when what physics started?
context: With the advent of quantum physics, some scientists believed the concept of matter had merely changed, while others believed the conventional position could no longer be maintained. For instance Werner Heisenberg said "The ontology of materialism rested upon the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct 'actuality' of the world around us, can be extrapolated into the atomic range. This extrapolation, however, is impossible... atoms are not things." Likewise, some philosophers[which?] feel that these dichotomies necessitate a switch from materialism to physicalism. Others use the terms "materialism" and "physicalism" interchangeably.

qas: question: What are some of the findings that support their argument?
answers: text: quantum mechanics and chaos theory.

question: What is the name of the 1991 book by Paul Davies and John Gribbins?
answers: text: The Matter Myth

question: When was Paul Davies born? 

question: When was John Gribbin born? 

question: Who believes materialism has been proven by scientific findings? 

question: Who believes that physics defined materialism?

question: Who wrote the chapter "The Birth of Materialism"? 
context: Some modern day physicists and science writers—such as Paul Davies and John Gribbin—have argued that materialism has been disproven by certain scientific findings in physics, such as quantum mechanics and chaos theory. In 1991, Gribbin and Davies released their book The Matter Myth, the first chapter of which, "The Death of Materialism", contained the following passage:

qas: question: Digital physicists consider what to be more important than matter?
answers: text: information

question: Digital physicists consider what to be less important than matter?

question: Max Planck disagreed with who? 

question: Who founded digital physics? 

question: Who disagrees with the quantum theory? 

question: Who believes matter is more important than information? 
context: Davies' and Gribbin's objections are shared by proponents of digital physics who view information rather than matter to be fundamental. Their objections were also shared by some founders of quantum theory, such as Max Planck, who wrote:

qas: question: Based on the above definition, materialism is not consistent with what?
answers: text: religions

question: Based on the above definition, materialism is consistent with what?

question: What book defined materialism as a non-philosophical system?

question: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all agree with what philosophy?

question: What is created for a person when they perceive Brahman?

question: What religion does not believe in an illusion called Maya? 
context: According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907-1912, materialism, defined as "a philosophical system which regards matter as the only reality in the world [...] denies the existence of God and the soul". Materialism, in this view, therefore becomes incompatible with most world religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In such a context one can conflate materialism with atheism. Most of Hinduism and transcendentalism regards all matter as an illusion called Maya, blinding humans from knowing "the truth". Maya is the limited, purely physical and mental reality in which our everyday consciousness has become entangled. Maya gets destroyed for a person when s/he perceives Brahman with transcendental knowledge.

qas: question: Neoplatonism describes divinity as what?
answers: text: simple, immaterial, formless, substance/essence (ousia) that transcended all that was physical

question: Which religious group strongly opposed the idea of Neoplatonism?
answers: text: Christians

question: Who said: "There is such thing as immaterial matter. "

question: What movement believes "There is such thing as immaterial matter. "

question: Who said: " We can see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter."

question: Who said: "All spirit is not matter" 

question: Who believed the spirit is also called intelligence? 
context: In contrast, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught: "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter." This spirit element has always existed; it is co-eternal with God. It is also called "intelligence" or "the light of truth", which like all observable matter "was not created or made, neither indeed can be". Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view the revelations of Joseph Smith as a restoration of original Christian doctrine, which they believe post-apostolic theologians began to corrupt in the centuries after Christ. The writings of many[quantify] of these theologians indicate a clear influence of Greek metaphysical philosophies such as Neoplatonism, which characterized divinity as an utterly simple, immaterial, formless, substance/essence (ousia) that transcended all that was physical. Despite strong opposition from many Christians, this metaphysical depiction of God eventually became incorporated into the doctrine of the Christian church, displacing the original Judeo-Christian concept of a physical, corporeal God who created humans in His image and likeness.

qas: question: If you believe in idealism, you are disbeliving in what?
answers: text: materialism

question: If you believe in idealism, you are also believing in what?

question: Who points out that it is possible to gather direct evidence of matter?

question: What can be considered non-redundant? 

question: Why is it possible to gather direct evidence? 
context: An argument for idealism, such as those of Hegel and Berkeley, is ipso facto an argument against materialism. Matter can be argued to be redundant, as in bundle theory, and mind-independent properties can in turn be reduced to subjective percepts. Berkeley presents an example of the latter by pointing out that it is impossible to gather direct evidence of matter, as there is no direct experience of matter; all that is experienced is perception, whether internal or external. As such, the existence of matter can only be assumed from the apparent (perceived) stability of perceptions; it finds absolutely no evidence in direct experience.

qas: question: What 3 types of philosophies attempt to correct the problem with matter and energy without removing every belief about materialism?
answers: text: Emergence, holism, and process philosophy

question: What is unnecessary to explain the physical world? 

question: What is capable of explaining mind? 

question: What is emergence the opposite of? 

question: What three philosophies do not correct the shortcomings of materialism? 
context: If matter and energy are seen as necessary to explain the physical world, but incapable of explaining mind, dualism results. Emergence, holism, and process philosophy seek to ameliorate the perceived shortcomings of traditional (especially mechanistic) materialism without abandoning materialism entirely.

qas: question: Instead of faith, John Polkinghorne relies on what when it comes to the theory of materialism?
answers: text: dual-aspect monism

question: Who agrees with promissory materialism? 

question: Who claims that materialistic science will never explain phenomena? 

question: Polkinghorne believes in faith in materialism instead of what? 

question: Why do critics agree with materialism? 
context: Some critics object to materialism as part of an overly skeptical, narrow or reductivist approach to theorizing, rather than to the ontological claim that matter is the only substance. Particle physicist and Anglican theologian John Polkinghorne objects to what he calls promissory materialism — claims that materialistic science will eventually succeed in explaining phenomena it has not so far been able to explain. Polkinghorne prefers "dual-aspect monism" to faith in materialism.

qas: question: Why does Mary Midgley suggest matter is well defined? 

question: What job does Mary Midgley hold? 

question: What is not an observable entity? 
context: Modern philosophical materialists extend the definition of other scientifically observable entities such as energy, forces, and the curvature of space. However philosophers such as Mary Midgley suggest that the concept of "matter" is elusive and poorly defined.

qas: question: Why does materialism agree with dualism? 

question: Why does materialism agree with phenomenalism? 

question: Who doesn't link materialism with determinism?

question: What contrasts with multi-aspect monism?

question: What contrasts with non-dualism?
context: Materialism typically contrasts with dualism, phenomenalism, idealism, vitalism, and dual-aspect monism. Its materiality can, in some ways, be linked to the concept of Determinism, as espoused by Enlightenment thinkers.

qas: question: Reductive materialism is not synonymous with what?

question: Scientific materialism is not synonymous with what? 

question: Paul and Patricia disagree with what hypotheses? 

question: Belief has a basis in fact in what type of materialist mindset? 

question: What is the same as revisionary materialism? 
context: Scientific "Materialism" is often synonymous with, and has so far been described, as being a reductive materialism. In recent years, Paul and Patricia Churchland have advocated a radically contrasting position (at least, in regards to certain hypotheses); eliminativist materialism holds that some mental phenomena simply do not exist at all, and that talk of those mental phenomena reflects a totally spurious "folk psychology" and introspection illusion. That is, an eliminative materialist might suggest that a concept like "belief" simply has no basis in fact - the way folk science speaks of demon-caused illnesses. Reductive materialism being at one end of a continuum (our theories will reduce to facts) and eliminative materialism on the other (certain theories will need to be eliminated in light of new facts), Revisionary materialism is somewhere in the middle.

qas: question: Who is praised for providing a clear definition of materalism?

question: Noam Chomsky disagrees with what concept? 

question: Chomsky stated that matter is not affected by what? 

question: How does Chomsky define materialism? 

question: According to Chomsky, who are dogmatic for agreeing with him? 
context: Some scientific materialists have been criticized, for example by Noam Chomsky, for failing to provide clear definitions for what constitutes matter, leaving the term "materialism" without any definite meaning. Chomsky also states that since the concept of matter may be affected by new scientific discoveries, as has happened in the past, scientific materialists are being dogmatic in assuming the opposite.

qas: question: The concept of matter has not changed for what reason?

question: Who believes that property can be considered non-material?

question: Who believes that property can be considered material if one defines it does not have property?

question: What has definite content independent of the particular theory of matter?
context: The concept of matter has changed in response to new scientific discoveries. Thus materialism has no definite content independent of the particular theory of matter on which it is based. According to Noam Chomsky, any property can be considered material, if one defines matter such that it has that property.

qas: question: Who agreed with all three forms of materialism? 

question: Who disagrees with transcendental idealism? 

question: Postmodern/poststructuralist agree with what? 

question: Who agrees that materialism is not a self-refuting idea?

question: Who wrote the Refutation of Materialism? 
context: Kant argued against all three forms of materialism, subjective idealism (which he contrasts with his "transcendental idealism") and dualism. However, Kant also argues that change and time require an enduring substrate, and does so in connection with his Refutation of Idealism. Postmodern/poststructuralist thinkers also express a skepticism about any all-encompassing metaphysical scheme. Philosopher Mary Midgley, among others, argues that materialism is a self-refuting idea, at least in its eliminative form.