Philosophy: A Christian Introduction - Ch. 7 "The Nature of Reality"

What two features of our mental lives seem to be at odds with a materialist metaphysics?

(1) first-person perspective (2) intentionality

What are three prominent views about ultimate reality?

(1) materialism (2) dualism (3) idealism

What is the Indispensability Argument?

1. If a simple sentence is literally true, then the objects its singular terms denote exist. 2. There are literally true simple sentences containing singular terms that refer to things that could be only abstract objects. 3. Therefore, abstract objects exist. e.g., In this sentence, 'The apple is red.', if it is true that 'the apple is red,' then the object denoted by the singular term (the apple) really exists and is red.

What is 'direct realism'?

A commonsensical theory of perception, called direct realism, hold that what one is directly aware of in perceptual experience is a mind-independent reality.

What is a concrete object?

A concrete object (a table, chair, rock, electron, or star) is defined as that which is not abstract.

What are the two kinds of minds and the two kinds of ideas in Berkeleyan idealism?

According to Berkeleyan idealism, there are two kinds of minds, divine and nondivine, and two kinds of ideas, sensory and imaginary (sensory ideas are "given"; we are passive recipients of them, whereas imaginary ideas are ideas that we "dream up" or produce through the activity of thinking).

What is materialism?

According to materialism, everything that exists is material. Materialism is a kind of monism (there is just one kind of thing that exists): the only thing that exists is matter.

What is an abstract object?

An abstract object is a nonspatial, nontemporal, necessarily existing, causally impotent entity.

What are the benefits of Berkeleyan idealism?

As a version of substance monism (only immaterial substances exist), it is simpler than pluralistic ontologies, such as metaphysical dualism; all things being equal (i.e., assuming the two types of ontologies are explanatorily on par), simplicity counts in its facor. Moreover, the idealist theory of perception is argued to be more consistent with the findings of quantum mechanics and is immune to skepticism since what we are directly aware of in perception is the mind-dependent physical reality.

What theory of knowledge is closely associated with materialism?

Empiricism. Empiricism is the idea that all knowledge is of the sense-perceptible kind.

What is a major drawback of Berkeleyan idealism with respect to its compatibility with Christian orthodoxy?

If divine ideas are part of God...and physical objects are collections of divine ideas, then physical objects are part of God. But then creation is part of God, panentheism is true, and Christian orthodoxy is called into question?

What is 'representative realism'?

In order to handle the problem of illusion, early modern philosophers such as Descartes and John Locke (1632-1704) advocated a theory of perception called representative realism. According to representative realism, in perception we are directly aware of a mental item - our sensory ideas - and indirectly aware of a mind-independent reality. We perceive physical objects - tables, rocks, trees - by way of our sensory ideas. By making a distinction between direct and indirect awareness, the representative realist can account for why, in the case of illusions, reality and appearance are distinct.

What is it about intentionality that seems to be at odds with a materialist metaphysics?

Intentionality is the "aboutness" or "ofness" of my mental life. I have a thought of my wife, a belief about London, a hope for the afterlife. This aboutness that characterizes our mental life is very difficult to account for on a purely materialistic metaphysics, [because material objects do not seem to be "of" or "about" anything].

Why is intentionality a problem for materialism?

Intentionality possesses qualities that physical states do not (e.g., intentionality can be about nonexistent entities; physical causal relations hold only between existent entities), and this provides reason to think that intentionality cannot be reduced to the purely material.

What is scientism?

It is currently more fashionable to speak of "the scientific" instead of "the sense perceptible," and thus many in our culture who adopt a materialistic metaphysics also adopt a theory of knowledge called scientism. According to a particularly strong version of scientism, all knowledge comes from the deliverances of science.

Does Berkeley deny that tables, rocks, etc. exist?

It is important to emphasize: Berkeley is not denying that tables, rocks, and trees exist. He is simply denying their mind-independence. Physical objects are collections of ideas. Whose ideas? For Berkeley there could be only one answer: God's ideas.

What is John Searle's "Chinese Room Argument"?

John Searle has advanced the famous Chinese Room Argument, showing how attempts to explain intentionality in terms of physical causal inputs and outputs fails. What is left out, according to Searle, is genuine understanding: physical inputs and outputs can mimic understanding, but they do not possess it, and thus they do not adequately account for the phenomenon of intentionality.

How do materialists typically deal with intentionality?

Materialists typically try to reduce intentionality to physical causal relations of input and output. My thought of London is reduced to certain infputs (I see a picture of Big Ben), which in turn produce an output, a certain behavior, such as my claiming that London is a grand city.

What is metaphysics, and why types of questions does it seek to answer?

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature and structure of reality. Questions metaphysicians ask and try to answer include the following: What exists? How do the different kinds of things that exist relate to one another? What aspects of reality are fundamental and derivative?

Why does metaphysics matter?

Metaphysics matters because the beliefs we hold about the world shape our experience of the world and our behavior in the world.

What worldview is entailed by scientism and materialism?

Naturalism is one implication of scientism as a theory of knowledge and materialism as a theory of reality. Naturalism is the view that there is no supernatural aspect to reality.

What are two prominent forms of dualism?

Platonism and substance dualism

What is Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism?

The conjunction of materialism and evolution means that our cognitive faculties select beliefs for their survival value rather than truth. But then, if my beliefs are selected for their survival value and not truth, I have no good reason to think my beliefs are true. But the, if I have no good reason to think my beliefs are true, I have no good reason to think materialism is true. Therefore if materialism is true, I have no good reason to believe materialism is true. Materialism is self-defeating.

What is the "fictionalist strategy"?

The fictionalist hold that the sentences that appear to commit us to the existence of abstract objects are literally false and thus do not denote abstract objects; and so the fictionalist does not bother translating sentences into proper nominalistic form. "Courage is a virtue" should be treated the same way as the sentence "Oliver Twist is an orphan." Oliver Twist doesn't exist, yet we can still coherently make reference to him as long as we understand that we are talking about a fictional character in a story written by Charles Dickens.

What is the "paraphrase strategy"?

The paraphrase strategy rejects premise 2 of the Indispensability Argument (There are literally true simple sentences containing singular terms that refer to things that could be only abstract objects.). Those holding to this strategy accept the truth of the sentences in question yet find a nominalist-friendly paraphrase that gets rid of the purported abstract object. e.g. "Two is prime" and "Courage is a virtue"...[=] "If there were numbers, two would be prime" and "Courageous persons are virtuous persons."

What is the problem with direct realism?

The problem with direct realism is that it does not seem to adequately account for special cases, such as illusion. Consider a straight stick that appears bent when placed in water. If the object of perceptual experience is the stick itself, then according to direct realism there should be no difference between appearance and reality.

What is the "criterion of ontological commitment" associated with the work of Willard V.O. Quine?

We are ontologically committed to singular terms and existential expressions of literally true simple sentences. e.g. "Two is prime" and "Courage is a virtue." (Assuming both are true, the singular terms refer, according to the criterion of ontological commitment, to the objects denoted by the singular terms...abstract objects - the number two and the property 'courage' or 'being courageous.')

What is it about the first-person perspective that seems to be at odds with a materialist metaphysics?

When I say I am hungry, I am in pain, I am here, and the like, I am reporting something about which I cannot be mistaken. I have privileged access to these mental states. They are mine. I am a self-conscious agent who can refer to myself using indexicals such as "I" and "here" and "now." As Thomas Nagel has pointed out, there is no place for indexicals in science: a complete scientific description of the world, identifying all particles and forces and their locations in space and time (from a third-person perspective) would leave something out: me.

What is idealism?

While there are many versions of idealism, we shall focus on a particularly influential one developed by the British empiricist George Berkeley (1685-1753). The only kind of things that exist, according to Berkeleyan idealism, are mental things: minds and ideas. To be is to be perceived or to be a perceiver.

What is substance dualism?

the view that each human is composed of two basic kinds of substances, an immaterial soul and a material body. Descartes (1596-1650) argued that the body operates according to mechanical laws of nature and is extended through and located in space. The soul, however, has no spatial location or extension; is that which thinks, feels, wills, can survive the death of the body, and causally interacts with the body.

What is Platonism?

the view that in addition to the material cosmos, there exists an abstract realm of nonmaterial objects. Platonism has its roots in the thought of Plato (427-347 BC), who argued that reality is constituted by a visible world, which is temporal, changing, and contingent, and by an invisible world of the Intelligible Forms, which is eternal, unchanging, and the source of all in the visible realm.

What is Metaphysical dualism?

the view that two kinds of things exist in the world.