Existence: A Series of Unfortunate Events?

Existence: A Series of Unfortunate Events?

Question 2

Existence: A Series of Unfortunate Events?

Abstract:

Living in the 21st century many questions regarding world and how it functions have been answered, however, no answer has been given to some basic questions about humans and the universe. Although science has taken giant steps in its attempt to explain phenomena which before would seem inexplicable it cannot clarify why certain things simply happen, that is when philosophy comes in the foreground. Philosophy is the rational investigation of questions about existence, knowledge and ethics. It begins where science stops, introduced with different or alike ideologies, philosophy offers to people the opportunity to choose between various ways of reasoning.

Thesis:

The primary focus of this paper is the understanding of the mechanistic materialism and what ideas it supports. It views morality as we know it, the reasons why materialists have been accused of weakening this morality and how they can oppose to this accusation. Central to my paper is the theory of invisible laws working in order to establish the world as we know it .Finally this paper will consider the case of soft and hard determinists.

Entry:

In order to understand what the mechanistic vision of materialists is, we must first define materialism. Materialism is the quantification of everything that exists in our universe. More generally, what this means is that everything-from subatomic particles, to tables, chairs, cats, feelings, beliefs and desires-everything can be reduced to matter ,to its physical state. Materialism is a very old philosophy; it exists along with the Pre-Socratics. Having explained what materialism is, a new theory of it is introduced during the seventeenth century, this theory came to be called mechanistic. The word mechanistic derives from the word "machine" and its whole meaning lies beneath it. According to this theory of reality, all things are reducible to matter and they are caused by a finite number of fixed physical laws. In few words, the world and everything in it is a machine. Descartes is thought to be the father of mechanistic materialism and Newton the one who promoted it by introducing his "Three Laws of Motion". What makes mechanistic materialism so intriguing is not just the claim that everything that what happens is predetermined, but rather is the belief that it could not have been otherwise. The conclusion derived from this theory is that everything in the world the cars, the desk, the people, even the reader of this are "exhaustively predetermined by infinitely long and converging chains of blind, irrational antecedent causes."

Dilemma:

Materialism accepts that the substance and the basis of all beings and phenomena is the material. Spiritual phenomena in physical culture are simply a higher form of properties of the material. If people accept this theory as true then we are immediately led to the question; how could man follow his moral commands if every human action would be predicted according to the increasingly sophisticated laws of science? What is more, if all that exists is matter in motion, then what room is left for moral values? This is one of the basic problems the theory of mechanistic materialism deals with since the beginning.

Support:

Throughout the years materialists have been thought to be the enemies of ethics, however what if that is wrong? What if materialists are the primarily ethical thinkers?

This is clearly illustrated in Baron d'Holbach's System of Nature, 'The source of man's unhappiness is his ignorance of nature'. For d'Holbach, it is superstition that makes man brutal, miserable, and morally wrong. On the contrary the study of nature can bring understanding and happiness. Moreover, the reason why we should study nature is not for knowledge itself, but rather because it will free us from superstition and unhappiness. So here, at least, materialism appears to be motivated by ethical concerns. By focusing on the physical stuff in life people can also find a way to forget their everyday anxiety and worries about tomorrow. Sorting out what is real and what is not can take us to a point where we can decide in a much more clear way what we want from life. Besides that, if materialists are accused of undermining morality who is capable of defining morality without any doubt? What if morality is different than the way it reaches our concept? Maybe ethics is an outcome of a domino effect predetermined by mechanistic. After all that is what philosophy is about, questioning everything that is given to us for granted. As history has shown nothing