How is materialism a self-refuting concept?

Question

Absolutely, I'm speaking of it in the philosophical sense, not as a social phenomenon.

Answer 1

I assume you are speaking of materialism in a philosophic sense rather that in the common vernacular. Materialism is a method of trying to identify things based on physical properties - an ontological exercise. The problem with making labels on physical objects is that many of the things humans discover, be it in the sciences or other philosophies , are done using theoretical constructs with little or no materialism involved. Therefore, if viewing the world through materialism, nothing can exist other than material objects ( even though we built A Bombs out of theoretical ideas).

EDIT
@eric_rae, this is an ontological discussion. You can conceptualize ideas without having or even knowing the properties of material things. In the sciences, it HELPS to know these properties to arrive at real outcomes, but many times we create concepts (even in science) without knowing any of the material properties. Read up on Einstein, he was actually amazed that ideas coming out of his head could work in the physical universe. I'm not dismissing the thought that ideas are themselves material in our heads. But a materialist isn't going to label the position of electrons in neural pathways and accept the idea it represents. The argument of materialism as being self-refuting is because few (if any) people exclusively use a materialistic view of the world as its too damn limiting. I don't believe this is an argument of idealism vs realism, its about how many philosophical tools we have at our disposal in trying to obtain knowledge.

Answer 2

ycats: Why? "Ideas" are radiation from paper that go into the eye and then are sent around in the brain as electricity. Then the hands make an atomic bomb. "Idealism" is something stupid people use to sound smart, and materialism is self-refuting only to an idealist.

Answer 3

Well, people want materials to satisfy physical lust since spirituality can only get you so far. Yet, too much materialism could cause your spirituality. Everything should be in moderation. Extremity is never good.


XR

Answer 4

its not, its sensible.