In a previous post I demonstrated that no sane person acts as if materialism were true. It later occurred to me that it is impossible to even speak as if materialism were true.
Consider the following statement:
“I believe materialism is true.”
The statement implicitly affirms the following three things that are true only if monist materialism is false:
- Subject-object duality. There is a subject (the observer; i.e., the “I” in the statement) who perceives an object (the concept of materialism).
- Intentionality. A mental state exists that is directed toward some object. Bags of chemicals do not have beliefs.
- Self-aware subjectivity as a declared reality. It is absurd to say the illusion of myself foisted on me by the chemicals that make up my body has a position regarding the truth of materialism. The speaker concedes the reality of the subjective self.