Another idea fails when applied to itself

[lulie]

There's an idea that goes: the only thing which exists is the material universe and the matter within it, which interacts according to the laws of physics. I think it's called mechanism; let's go with that. Anyway, mechanism is just an idea, not a physical fact. So according to itself, it doesn't exist

Comments

[timmyson]

In the materialist worldview, the mind is a physical object, and therefore the consciousness that (debatably) inhabits it, and the ideas formed there should be part of the material world, no?

[l1berty]

How could an idea be a physical object? o.O Even if our awareness of it comes about by physical processes, and memories are stored chemically, to say that the actual idea is material, doesn't really sound tenable.

[timmyson]

The idea is our perception of a physical object. All mental processes are caused by chemical and phyiscal states of the brain. A particular set of neurons firing is associated with our considering the idea of "mechanism", and so from the materialist perspective, our idea of "mechanism" is our interpretation of a physical event (a bunch of neurons firing). It's not a tangible physical object, just like acceleration isn't tangible, but it's still a part of the physical universe.

[l1berty]

So...the idea of "mechanism" (I thought it was called physicalism) is merely a bunch of neurones firing with no particular cause, and our interpretation of it is wrong because, if that was all it consisted of, we wouldn't believe and advocate it.