Hi Dave,
I might define materialism as the belief that all the forces of nature are
"empirically detectable and , to some degree, predictable". Conversely,
anything that is not "empirically detectable, and to some degree,
predictable" would not exist under a philosophy of materialism. The problem
of free will is the first that comes to mind. By definition, free will can
never be predictable (otherwise it wouldn't be free) and I can think of no
way to detect it scientifically. Those who adopt a materialistic philosophy
sometimes suggest free will doesn't *really* exist, that at some level free
will is actually the result of casual, deterministic forces. Would
materialists therefore regard free will, if they postulated its existence, as
"supernatural"? Most people are convinced, from personal experience, that
free will exists. Should such personal experience, acknowledged by the vast
majority, be labeled "supernatural"? Should science be limited to take
into account only that part of reality that is "empirically detectable and,
to some degree, predictable"? Love and hate cannot be empirically detected.
Do they exist as part of the real world or are they "supernatural"? Are they
off limits to science?
Bertvan
http://members.aol.com/bertvan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 18 2000 - 10:51:31 EST