Are You a Materialist?

[Iti oj]

Thanks for the straightforward answer.


Nope, trying to keep it simple.

I would like to add that I don't think all/most "metaphysical" things need to be spiritual. Anyways good luck on your thread.

 

[Acintya_Ash]

I'm not a materialist, No

 

[George-ananda]

I am not a materialist. I reject any first cause.

From talking in the past I think you are a materialist.

I believe that mind and matter mutually condition each other.

That belief is compatible with the definition of materialism given in the OP.

 

[icehorse]

Here is the working definition of Materialism for this thread (per Wikipedia):

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 the result of material interactions.

If you are a materialist, you can not believe in anything metaphysical like God, afterlives, spirits, souls, etc.

I want to keep this question as basic as possible because questions often get misunderstood here if they say too much.

I will argue that there are only three possible answers: 'Yes', 'No' and 'Undecided' and that everyone must have one and only one answer. If some tries to waffle a fourth answer I will argue until my Koala Bear avatar turns blue in the face that this is not possible.

I'll go first; I am a 'No' on the question as I believe consciousness is primary and that souls and non-physical spiritual planes exist that are not composed of physical plane material.

I guess I'd have to say "no" because if nothing else I believe in matter and energy.

 

[Deathbydefault]

If you are a materialist, you can not believe in anything metaphysical like God, afterlives, spirits, souls, etc.

Then I am most certainly a materialist.

 

[George-ananda]

I guess I'd have to say "no" because if nothing else I believe in matter and energy.

Shouldn't that make you a 'yes' or 'undecided'. The existence of physical energy is not in question by anyone and is part of materialism.

 

[George-ananda]

The score as of this post:

Yes 5
No 4
Undecided 3

 

[von bek]

From talking in the past I think you are a materialist.

I know. You constantly accuse me of that because you don't understand my position. It is rather tiresome.

That belief is compatible with the definition of materialism given in the OP.

I do not believe matter is a first cause. I do not believe mind is merely an emergent property of matter.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Here is the working definition of Materialism for this thread (per Wikipedia):

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 the result of material interactions.

If you are a materialist, you can not believe in anything metaphysical like God, afterlives, spirits, souls, etc.

I want to keep this question as basic as possible because questions often get misunderstood here if they say too much.

I will argue that there are only three possible answers: 'Yes', 'No' and 'Undecided' and that everyone must have one and only one answer. If some tries to waffle a fourth answer I will argue until my Koala Bear avatar turns blue in the face that this is not possible.

I'll go first; I am a 'No' on the question as I believe consciousness is primary and that souls and non-physical spiritual planes exist that are not composed of physical plane material.

No. I am not materialist. Spirits do exist. Spirits of my family, my ancestors, my spirit, spirits that will always live on the land they were born or raise, spirits from objects they owned.

I believe in the Great Spirit. Who IS life. No one created life.

I believe all is the Spirit and the Spirit is all. No separation.

I am far from materalist. We developed a lot of materalistic values in the states, and I wish to shed those influences because that is not who I am.

 

[LuisDantas]

Going by that definition, I suppose I am.

But I more of a naturalist type, really.

Also, I must say that attempts at branding non-supernaturalists as "materialists" are very ill-advised far as I can see.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

If there is at least one percent of believing in anything more than material-MT (i.e. list below) no matter where you place on the scale, above, equal, below, youre a spiritualist-ST.

If you have NO belief in anything spiritual (metaphysical in OP) you are a materalist.

-Spiritualist "beliefs" include:

Consciousness, the all, spirit, jesus as God, angels, heaven, hell, purgatory, anything held sacred-defines your life, outer body experiences, belief in essense of something that cant be detected materally, religious views of marriage, marriage (union between two souls), saints can hear you, buddha nature, god, gods, worship of anykind, likewise devotion,

Vocation,demons, seeing the higher beauty in birth, unconditional love, agape love, some alternative medicine, divine, divinity, holistic spirituality, the beyond, pass the five senses, agnostics, metaphysical beauty not psychological, energy, talking in tongue, cart rolls, transubstatiation, eucharist,salvation, absolution, magic, magick, folk magic, the Great Spirit, afterlife(s),reincarnation, inner inherent sense of wrong and right/morals.

Krishna, satan, devil, talking donkeys,something came from nothing, the Creator, intent to create spells, spirit of nature, shamanism, psychic, resurrection, wiccan, pantheism, panenthiesm, deism, monotheism, polytheism, "if you know God exists 'and' you dont believe in Him" type atheist, inner mind, inner heart, souls, higher love, left hand path,

Mehayana buddhist, universalist, hinduism, spells, auras, chakras, astrology,spirualism,land spirits, the sacred, belief in mythological gods, prayer, some forms of meditation, mysticism, feelings your deceased loved one is literally watching over you, invocations, pulling down the moon, drawing circles for sacred space, nondualism, pluralism, refferring to the "mind" beyond mere psychology (psychology such as thoughts, motivations, and cause of actions), metaphysical view of karma

Also, if youre a nihilist or humanist...

You are a materalist.

Materalist "beliefs" include:

"Materialism is the idea that everything is either made only of matter or is ultimately dependent upon matter for its existence and nature."​

Materalism is not specifically "material luxuries". Rather, it is the opposite of spiritualism. A lot of what os listed above, from a materalist view, could be basic

1. Psychology (A lot of us build ways to support us for fear-realized and accepted or not-of the unknown, and of death.)

2. Cultural influences (which takes out need for spiritual intervention. When each culture works together in their own respective beliefs they help their groups define the purpose of life. This is seen throughout history. Spirituality, to a materialist, is not the source of these cultural beliefs"

3. Weirdly enough, because of MT. views, a lot of people mirror it with science. MT is only focusing on the process of life that has no spiritual cause.

What the above helps support spiritualists, the same type of support is used throuh MT to those who take up that philosophy. It goes inline with humanist but not all humanist depend or see materalistic things as support for purpose in life.
-
You are "undecided" if you "dont know" which you fall under. No exclusions.

Nothing wrong with one world view. Spiritual worldviews are just as complex as materal worldviews.

No boxes. No categories.

@George-ananda I hope this helps

Worldview: [Your] ... "particular philosophy of life or conception of the world."

 

[Ouroboros]

I do not believe matter is a first cause. I do not believe mind is merely an emergent property of matter.

That's how I see it too. There's no first side of a coin. Both sides of a coin, and the coin, and the sides, and the inside, and ... all has to exist for it to be a coin.

 

[Ouroboros]

I'm putting Quintessence down as 'Undecided'.

I should have known Quintessence and @Ouroboros would raise the Koala's blood pressure.

It's a koala collision.

 

[Willamena]

Here is the working definition of Materialism for this thread (per Wikipedia):

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 the result of material interactions.

If you are a materialist, you can not believe in anything metaphysical like God, afterlives, spirits, souls, etc.

Rather, you believe things like God, afterlives, spirits, souls, etc. are the result of material interactions. I see nothing that denies a person from believing in something in that definition.

I'll go first; I am a 'No'...

I'm an "I find little use for materialism in a pragmatic world."

 

[George-ananda]

I do not believe matter is a first cause. I do not believe mind is merely an emergent property of matter.

That's how I see it too. There's no first side of a coin. Both sides of a coin, and the coin, and the sides, and the inside, and ... all has to exist for it to be a coin.

Do you think that there is something more than the movement of physical matter and energy that constitutes a mind? If so, what would that be?

 

[dust1n]

Yup..

 

[Ouroboros]

Do you think that there is something more than the movement of physical matter and energy that constitutes a mind? If so, what would that be?

Yes.

Examples would be gravity, magnetism, spacetime (Higgs field), and such. Even quarks aren't really matter. The electron, which is a quark, has a zero volume. There's also this strange particle that is massive in size, massive in mass, but doesn't interact with other matter (if I understand it right). Can't remember what they're called. Wimpzilla matter or particles, I think it was. So what is matter, really? They're the result of some underlying principle, interaction of information, energy, from which matter emerges, and from which mind emerges, from which interaction again, recursively through observation, makes matter behave according to mind. It's all a loop of interactions. What came first? Mind or matter? Matter or mind? There never was one without the other, in my opinion.

--edit

The question is akin to asking "what came first in a unit circle, the circumference or pi?"

 

[von bek]

Do you think that there is something more than the movement of physical matter and energy that constitutes a mind? If so, what would that be?

By mind, are you merely referring to consciousness, or are you also including the other mental aggregates of feeling, perception, and volitional formations?

The Buddha teaches dependent origination. Conditioned by ignorance; volitional formations arise. Conditioned by volitional formations; consciousness arises. Conditioned by consciousness; name and form arise. Conditioned by name and form; the sense bases arise. Conditioned by the sense bases; contact arises. Conditioned by contact; feeling arises. Conditioned by feeling; craving arises. Conditioned by craving; clinging arises. Conditioned by clinging; becoming arises. Conditioned by becoming; birth arises. Conditioned by birth; sickness, old age, and death arises. As a Buddhist, this is my concern and my answer.

A present mental state can condition a future arising of matter. (This speaks to how accumulated kamma shapes a future rebirth and also can refer to something as mundane as moving my arm because of intention.) Matter also conditions mind. (A human thinks different types of thoughts than an ant does because the mental "hardware" is radically different. Also, on a mundane level, material objects such as the weather or music alters mental states.)

 

[Quintessence]

I'm putting Quintessence down as 'Undecided'.

I should have known Quintessence and @Ouroboros would raise the Koala's blood pressure.

Substance pluralism is not "undecided," it's substance pluralism. It also happens to be non-dual substance pluralism. If you must stuff me in your classification scheme, it would be a "no," not an "undecided." I'm not a materialist. It would be slightly more accurate to describe my variety of non-dual substance pluralism as "spiritualist" but... that's probably misleading given how I personally understand the word "spirit" compared to others in various cultures.

 

[icehorse]

Shouldn't that make you a 'yes' or 'undecided'. The existence of physical energy is not in question by anyone and is part of materialism.

Oh ok, I didn't see "energy" in the OP. I would say that I believe that there is more than material however. And it could be (yet another), bit of semantics. Someone mentioned "ideas" as an example. In the context of the OP, it's not clear to me how you would categorize "ideas". Are they material or not?