Materialism

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Materialism (from Latin: materia "substance", etymologically related to mater "mother" or matrix "womb"; see also → matter) is a basic philosophical direction which - in contrast to idealism - assumes that only matter has reality and that thoughts and ideas are manifestations of matter. Materialism is one of the 12 fundamental worldviews Rudolf Steiner spoke of. In the zodiac he assigns the sign Cancer to materialism.

The epistemological-ontological materialism formed the basis of the dialectical materialism founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Colloquially, the term materialism is usually used pejoratively for an ethical attitude to life that is oriented solely towards possessions and prosperity within the framework of a purely consumer society.

Fear of consciousness as the driving force of materialism

For the US-American philosopher John Searle, the "fear of consciousness", the fear of falling into subjectivity, is the real driving force of materialism:

„If one wanted to designate the deepest motive of materialism, one could probably say that it is simply a horror conscientiae[1]. But why? Why should materialists fear consciousness? Why do they not accept consciousness as just another material property among many others? Some of them - Armstrong and Dennett, for example - claim they do just that. But they do so by giving a new definition for "consciousness" that denies the central feature of consciousness: its subjective quality. The deepest reason for the fear of consciousness is that consciousness has the inherently fearsome feature of subjectivity. Materialists are reluctant to accept this feature because they believe that the existence of subjective consciousness is incompatible with the world as it is conceived. Many think that in view of the discoveries of natural science, one can only have a conception of reality in which the existence of subjectivity is denied. As in the case of "consciousness", one can again help oneself by redefining "subjectivity" in such a way that this word no longer means subjectivity, but something objective...“ (Lit.: Searle 1993, p. 72f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ Latin: horror conscientiae „Fear of consciousness“
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