Two Arguments Against Materialism

Philosophy 114

Ned Markosian

Western Washington University

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Oxford Science

Recent scientific discoveries have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the Materialistic conception of people is wrongheaded. Dr. Duncan MacDougall, Professor of Neurophysiology at All Souls College of Oxford University, in England, has performed a series of experiments on dying patients. Dr. MacDougall’s patients were closely monitored as they approached the moment of death. Careful measurements determined that each patient in the study lost exactly three-quarters of an ounce in body weight at the precise moment when all life functions ceased and he or she crossed the great divide between the known and the unknown. Dr. MacDougall also discovered that when dogs die, their bodies do not lose any weight. Dr. MacDougall concludes that whereas dogs are mere “biological machines” – each one just a mass of neurons, ganglions, muscle fibers, bones, and other living tissue – humans are unique within the animal kingdom because we possess souls.

The Argument from Death

Materialism is a wrongheaded view that is easily refuted by considerations about what happens to a person when he dies. Take my Uncle Mortimer, for example. When he died, we had a big funeral, at which we all lamented the fact that he had gone. It was what they call an “open casket” service, so we could all see where his body was. But that did not lead to any confusion at all about where Uncle Mort was: he was most decidedly no longer with us. (Aunt Esther kept saying “He has gone to a better place.”) Now, these two facts – the fact that Uncle Mort was gone and the fact that his body remained behind – made it utterly obvious that Uncle Mort was not identical to his body. (Not that my cousin Matt or any of the other materialists present took note of this obvious consequence of these facts. I guess that sort of behavior is why you never hear the phrase “open-minded materialist.”)

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