Why Not Materialism?

Anthony_Joseph · Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 11 Status: **Offline**

The first thing to do when answering the question, "Why not materialism?" is to define "materialism." It is here being used in the traditional way of describing the belief that the material world is all there is; everything is in reality made of matter or is the product of matter. There is no such thing as spirit or the soul.

The answer given here for not believing in materialism is basically the same C.S. Lewis give in his book Miracles .

When a person is a materialist, they will often provide some sort of reason for it. They will appeal to some scientific or philosophical argument in support of it. In other words, they typically believe in the validity of reason and logic. Therein lies a contradiction to their philosophy. For if everything is matter or the product of matter, then reason and logic are as well. If our thoughts are merely the result of our brain, which is merely the result of random biochemical reactions, on what grounds do we trust anything we claim to know by reason and logic? For one person's use of reason that leads him to theism would have the same validity as another's that led him to atheism if they are both merely the products of matter. If reason does not transcend matter, it is useless. But if we insist that reason is useful, then we must admit it transcends matter, and if it transcends matter, we admit there is something more than matter and materialism collapses.

This is not an argument for the existence of God, at least not a complete one. But its a start and could open minds to the possibility of God.