Ontological materialism
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism in metaphysics, according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are caused by physical processes, such as the neurochemistry of the human brain and nervous system, without which they cannot exist. Materialism directly contrasts with monistic idealism, according to which consciousness is the fundamental substance of nature.
Materialism is closely related to physicalism—the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Philosophical physicalism has evolved from materialism with the theories of the physical sciences to incorporate forms of physicality in addition to ordinary matter (e.g. spacetime, physical energies and forces, and exotic matter). Thus, some prefer the term physicalism to materialism, while others use them as synonyms. Materialism is also related to naturalism—the position that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe.
Discoveries of neural correlates between consciousness and the brain are taken as empirical support for materialism, but some philosophers of mind find that association fallacious or consider it compatible with non-materialist ideas. Alternative philosophies opposed or alternative to materialism or physicalism include idealism, pluralism, dualism, panpsychism, and other forms of monism.
Epicureanism is a philosophy of materialism from classical antiquity that was a major forerunner of modern science. Classical atomism predates Epicurus: fifth‑century BCE thinkers Leucippus and Democritus explained all change as the collisions of indivisible atoms moving in the void. Epicureanism refined this materialist picture. Epicurus held that everything—including mind—consists solely of atoms moving in the void; to explain how parallel falling atoms could ever meet, he postulated the clinamen, an extremely slight lateral deviation that initiates collisions without invoking supernatural causes and that need not imply genuine indeterminism.
Ontological materialism is the philosophical position that only physical matter and energy exist, and that all phenomena, including consciousness and mental states, are ultimately products of material interactions. It asserts that matter is the fundamental substance of reality, and any immaterial aspects are reducible to or explicable by natural laws. This contrasts with dualism, which posits both physical and non-physical (mental) substances, and idealism, which prioritizes the mind or consciousness as the primary reality.
Key Aspects
- Monism: Ontological materialism is a form of metaphysical monism, meaning it proposes only one fundamental kind of substance in the universe.
- Physicalism: The term “physicalism” is often used interchangeably with contemporary ontological materialism, emphasizing that all existing entities are physical in nature.
- Reductionism: Proponents believe that mental phenomena like thought, emotions, and consciousness are not independent but rather high-order properties of complex material systems (like the brain).
- Nature: It is a view of ontology—the study of being and existence—that maintains matter is the primary and foundational substance of the world.
Implications and Contrasts
- Against Dualism: It stands in opposition to ontological dualism, which posits the existence of non-physical mental entities alongside physical ones.
- Against Idealism: It also contrasts with ontological idealism, which asserts that immaterial concepts or consciousness are more fundamental than material things.
- Superfluity of the Immaterial: From this viewpoint, there is no scientific or philosophical need to posit immaterial substances or disembodied minds, as they are considered unnecessary for explanations of reality.
- Naturalism: It is often aligned with naturalism, the view that nature is the totality of what exists and that explanations should be derived solely from empirical interactions within this world.
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[3] wikipedia/en/Materialism_and_Christianity
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/CriticalTheory/comments/lh9xnd/what_exactly_is_ontology/
[5] https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-state-of-ontological-materialism