Does anyone have a convincing argument for the existence of a non material reality?

[osgart]

Are there good scientific or philosophical reasons to be a non materialist?

You can skim this beginning of this next video.

 

[Valjean]

Define "non material" and "non materialist," SVP.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Are there good scientific or philosophical reasons to be a non materialist?

What do you mean? Supernatural?

 

[osgart]

What do you mean? Supernatural?

I dont think i would call it supernatural. Only that currently undetectable realities exist that have no physical properties; Anything other than matter or energy that exists.

I mean space exists, but what if all of energy and matter was removed from space?

Perhaps idealism is true!

 

[Valjean]

I dont think i would call it supernatural. Only that currently undetectable realities exist that have no physical properties; Anything other than matter or energy that exists.

I mean space exists, but what if all of energy and matter was removed from space?

Perhaps idealism is true!

Wouldn't it still exist? Wouldn't an energy/matter free region of physical laws still exist?

 

[osgart]

Wouldn't it still exist? Wouldn't an energy/matter free region of physical laws still exist?

Yes

 

[siti]

Wouldn't it still exist? Wouldn't an energy/matter free region of physical laws still exist?

Would it? In what sense would it "exist"? If there were no matter and energy for the "physical laws" to govern the existence of, would its existence or non-existence make any difference to anything? Would be possible for anything to determine the difference between its existence and its non-existence? And if its existence is indistinguishable from its non-existence, in what sense can it be said to "exist"? That is the problem with 'idealism' in any guise - it cannot be detected and therefore its existence can neither be confirmed nor denied - which also means that any argument in favour of its 'existence' has to be so qualified as to become indistinguishable from its negation. If we can't detect it and it makes no difference to anything how is its existence different from its non-existence?

 

[Valjean]

Spacetime, with or without lumps or sparks, exists. It's a stuff. The laws of physics still exist in it.

 

[siti]

If its "stuff" and subject to the "laws of physics" then its not non-material, if the vacuum energy at its "lowest energy state" exists and contains all this "stuff" (as the video suggests), how is it energy/matter free?

 

[osgart]

If its "stuff" and subject to the "laws of physics" then its not non-material, if the vacuum energy at its "lowest energy state" exists and contains all this "stuff" (as the video suggests), how is it energy/matter free?

To say that spacetime is stuff , isnt that presumptuous? Space is abstract.

Can an energy/matter free environment exist?

Also, what environment is space inflating into?

 

[Valjean]

No, this is basic physics. Spacetime may be immaterial, but it is not "nothing."

 

[Valjean]

Just watch the first three or four minutes, if you want some idea where i'm coming from.
If you actually want to better understand what is now regarded as basic physics, go on watching.

 

[Aupmanyav]

For what is out there and everywhere, definitions like existing or not-existing, material or non-material, cannot be applied. However, it is not a demanding, interfering God.

 

[Valjean]

Judging Reality from our own, everyday experience and perception is a mistake.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Are there good scientific or philosophical reasons to be a non materialist?

My opinion...for what it's worth...is that by definition science is unlikely to provide reasons to be a non materialist, assuming I'm understanding what you mean by that.

I'm basically a methodological naturalist. In (very) shorthand, I believe that science can only measure and test against material causes/effects.

Philosophy is philosophy. There are obviously wide ranging ideas within that realm, and 'good' is very subjective.

 

[PureX]

Consciousness is itself a 'non-material reality' being created in the brain. The brain is material, but the concepts it generates are not.

 

[Sanzbir]

Energy isn't matter. We can prove energy exists. Ergo non material reality.

 

[David T]

Spacetime, with or without lumps or sparks, exists. It's a stuff. The laws of physics still exist in it.

Explain "laws of physics" precisely. There are a variety of ways of understanding that term actually.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I don't know if it's good or not argument, but I've heard many times over the years some argue that mathematics exists in some ideal universe of forms...basically a Platonic or Neo-Platonic world of the Ideal.

 

[Nakosis]

Are there good scientific or philosophical reasons to be a non materialist?

You can skim this beginning of this next video.

Maybe we can't divide the universe up into its minimalist components and get anything meaningful.

There's energy, matter which seem at some point interchangeable and information. They all seem to depend on each other for existence. When you try to isolate them from each other to study them, the universe stops making sense.

It's like a cosmic ah, sorry, circle jerk. Looking for the cause of matter, looking for the cause of energy, looking for the cause of information. Anything "real" is detectable. Anything detectable consists of matter, energy, information. So you focus only on the material, suddenly a part of reality seems missing.

A non-material universe is a non-existent universe. Matter can't exist without energy and information.