Metaphysics: The Study of the Nature of Existence or Reality I Materialism: all reality is material/physical; only bodies in motion are real Eastern (Charvaka) materialism: since we can know only that which we experience by sense, only that which is sensible/physical can be understood as real. There are no spiritual realities and no afterlife

Metaphysics: The Study of the Nature of Existence or Reality II Western materialism: only physical things are real, either as atoms in motion (Democritus) or moving bodies (Hobbes) – In principle, everything is completely predictable (Laplace): there is no real freedom or afterlife

Objections to Materialism Mental activity (e.g., consciousness) does not have physical properties (e.g., location). Even if mental activity is correlated with physical activity, that does not prove they are identical Consciousness can be “of” or “about” things that don’t exist; physical objects lack such intentionality Sub-atomic particle physics shows how matter itself lacks physical properties

Metaphysical Idealism: All reality is comprised of minds and ideas Western Idealism: Physical objects are real only insofar as they are intelligible as the kind of thing they are. What makes a thing be that kind of thing is its unchanging essence, “form,” or “idea” (Plato) For something to be real means that it is experienced (or “perceived”) by some mind (including God): its existence consists in its being perceived (George Berkeley)

Idealism (continued) Eastern Idealism: things we perceive are only sensations in the mind (as in a dream), not real objects outside our minds. Meditation and an ethical life wake us from the dream (Vasubandhu) Objections to Idealism: 1.Anthropomorphism: just because we think of reality in terms of mind does not mean that it is a product of mind: the objects we perceive are not limited simply to objects as we perceive them 2.Minds and ideas occur only in material systems