The myth of physicalism––a continuing discussion

Photo by Ivan Bandura on Unsplash

The third part of a friendly discussion between a humanist and Christian. Here the terms mythology, God, and physicalism are defined and the suggestion made that the key difference can be found in the belief that physicalism defines reality. This is in response to Dean Brett’s comments on my response to his initial confession, found here.

Dear Dean,

Thanks for your response to my response. I apologize for the length of mine. According to one commenter on our discussion, you won the day because I wasn’t “pithy.” I’ll try to be more pithy.

Definitions.

Physicalism: My definition of physicalism is essentially a synonym for naturalism and materialism, and somewhat scientism. Bucher’s definition that you refer to is pithily what I mean. It says the universe that we inhabit is causally closed, consists of physical matter and forces only and eliminates the possibility of transcendence and the immaterial. This is the view of reality that we are taught in our education systems and is supported by general and science journalism. Adherents to this view often consider those who continue to believe in God, a Higher Power, or spiritual realm to be out of date, ignorant, naive, unsophisticated, and motivated by wishful thinking rather than rationality.