Metaphysics

Some Metaphysical Questions—

  • What is real?
  • What exists in the most basic sense of “exists”?
  • What are the most fundamental characteristics or “building blocks” of reality?
  • What is the nature of reality?
  • Is there an objective reality—one that exists independently of how we (human beings) experience it or conceive of it?
  • Is the material/physical universe all there is?
  • Can everything be explained in terms of or reduced to physical objects and processes?
  • Can “mental objects,” like thoughts, consciousness, ideas, etc., be identified with or reduced to brain or neural processes?
  • Is everything fundamentally mental in character? Can physical objects and processes be understood in mentalistic terms?
  • Are the material and the mental both fundamental components of reality, neither of which can be explained in terms of the other?
  • Are the material and the mental both qualities of a more basic reality that is ultimately neither physical nor mental?

Some Metaphysical Views: a classification

I. Monistic views: There is one basic kind of reality.

A. materialism—Everything is basically material or physical in

nature.

B. idealism—Everything is basically mental or ideational in

nature.

C. neutral monism (Spinoza)—The basic kind of reality is

neither material nor mental in nature.

II. Dualistic views: There are at least two basic kinds of reality.

A. mind-body dualism—There are two basic kinds of reality:

(1) material/physical and (2) mental/ideational. Neither can

be reduced to or explained in terms of the other.

B. “multiple-substance” dualism—There are a wide variety of

basic kinds of reality (e.g., Aristotle, Leibniz).

One Argument Against Materialism

  1. We are immediately aware of our own sensations, ideas, thoughts, and feelings as mental, immaterial entities.
  2. If premise 1 is true, then mental, immaterial entities exist.
  3. If mental, immaterial entities exist, then physical reality is not the only reality.
  4. If physical reality is not the only reality, then materialism is false.

Therefore,

Materialism is false.

Defenses of Materialism Against the Preceding Argument

  • The Mind-Brain Identity theory:
  • Sensations, ideas, thoughts, feelings and other “mental” entities are really brain processes.
  • However, they appear in consciousness as mental in nature because of the subject’s unique relationship to his/her own brain processes.
  • Therefore, premise 2 is false.
  • Eliminative Materialism:
  • Sensations, ideas, thoughts, feelings, and other “mental” entities are illusions and therefore do not exist in any form.
  • If sensations, ideas, thoughts, feelings, and other “mental” entities are illusions and do not exist in any form, then we are not immediately aware of anything in our consciousness.
  • If we are not immediately aware of anything in our consciousness, then premise 1 is false.
  • Therefore, premise is false.

Berkeley’s argument for idealism

  1. “Physical” objects are the things that we perceive by our senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch).
  2. Ultimately, we perceive only our own ideas and sensations.
  3. Ideas and sensations cannot exist other than as the “mental” content of our perceptions.

Therefore,

“Physical” objects cannot exist unperceived. (“To be is to be

perceived.”)