Philosophical/scientific materialism: nihilism in disguise?
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Idilis: are you offering up definitions of’ meaning’? The definitions seem meaningless to me. Please elaborate.
Hap, where do you stand on this?
Interesting how people see morals as immaterial, I don't see where this idea comes from. As far as I see it morals are simply 'instinctual', in my opinion the need for animals to protect their families is a primitive form of morals. We are social animals and that is a tactic for survival, if we didn't have morals we would have died out long ago which I think shows it is for survival and therefore evolved. And we aren't the only animals with more advanced morals. There has been research showing morality in chimp, since they are closely related to humans it looks quite clear that morality comes from evolution: https://thewire.in/environment/chimpanzees-have-a-sense-of-morality https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2018.00017/full
@Darthphy. It’s a huge mistake I think to equate scientific materialism and philosophical materialism, yet it happens all the time. If you spend 20-30 minutes dodging irrelevant snark and pedantic posturing, you learn this syllogism:
-scientific study is advanced by reductionism.
-reductionism leaves no room for transcendence of any form, so
-transcendence has no role in our existence.
If the syllogism appears a bit tortured, it is, BUT probably millions of very bright people believe it.
I don’t.
-scientific study is advanced by reductionism.
-reductionism leaves no room for transcendence of any form, so
-transcendence has no role in our existence.
If the syllogism appears a bit tortured, it is, BUT probably millions of very bright people believe it.
I don’t.
Yes
hapless_fool wrote:
The most destructive ideology ever has been Marxism and its spin-offs.
Does this make Marxism a bad ideology? Could it be that its adherents got a bit carried away, and if the one true and pure Marxism would ever be practiced it would usher in the Utopia we all dream about?
You tell me.
The same argument applies to religious beliefs. It’s interesting that someone quotes a bellicose passage out of the Old Testament, yet after the Fall of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, practicing Jews have shown no such inclinations.
Since historical illustrations are usually so poorly understood by the ones who cite them, I invite you to avoid them. Optimissed’ a comment are what you you should mirror.
Does this make Marxism a bad ideology? Could it be that its adherents got a bit carried away, and if the one true and pure Marxism would ever be practiced it would usher in the Utopia we all dream about?
You tell me.
The same argument applies to religious beliefs. It’s interesting that someone quotes a bellicose passage out of the Old Testament, yet after the Fall of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, practicing Jews have shown no such inclinations.
Since historical illustrations are usually so poorly understood by the ones who cite them, I invite you to avoid them. Optimissed’ a comment are what you you should mirror.
Bolshevism, where Bolshevism is the rule of a large mob of very angry, ill-educated peasants.
With bad manners.
That is the most appalling translation of Marxism and we can blame Lenin.
hapless_fool wrote:
Nihilism: the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS MEANINGLESS.
A nihilist doesn’t only believe that life is meaningless, they believe that everything is meaningless. They find horrid actions in the Earth performed as meaningless. Tor ture, wars, slav ery, and other things along that pattern are meaningless.
Arguably therefore that life is meaningless, since all the vile things you mentioned are the perceptions of living beings, to what end? Nihilism's sad.
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Existence of meaning can still mean:
- Artificial meaning by some perceived authority
- Individual artificial meaning: what each one of us makes of it
- Worthless meaning: the meaning from the authority has no value and the individual is unable to form a meaning of value. Not no meaning. Or is this nihilism?