Idealism vs. Materialism

It was the atheist philosopher named Ayn Rand who properly identified the starting place of philosophy.  Whether they know it or not, everyone is a materialist or an idealist.  This is the great philosophical divide.  There is no neutrality. 

There are two distinct lines of reasoning; one takes the materialist path and the other is the path of idealism.

Many people in our post-modern world are so landlocked in materialism that they are unaware of any alternatives to their point of view.  They don’t understand what materialism is nor do they understand where it leads; however, materialism is blindly accepted by the masses and it is the philosophy of choice of the establishment.  It is as much of a religion as any religion.

Definitions are in order.  Materialism starts with the premise that matter is primary and from it all things flow.  The great complexity of the universe, from the inorganic to the organic, to life and finally to conscious life is reducible to matter and nothing exists apart from matter. 

To the materialist, the universe is basically hardware.  While materialists recognize the existence of software, such as DNA, they regard software as the product of hardware.  The primacy of matter is fundamental to materialism.  The entire state subsidized scientific establishment operates on this premise.  The whole political apparatus of the industrialized world is philosophically married to materialism.

The question arises, “From whence did we come?”  To the materialist the answer is simple.  We came from matter and to matter we will return.  The theory of evolution is the creation myth of the materialists.  The materialist view of evolution starts with matter that evolves from inorganic to organic.  From there life pops into existence and then man spontaneously appears, all from natural forces.  Matter is magic.

In chapter two we will show that what is known as the Theory of Evolution is both mythological and scientifically silly.  To the post moderns this statement is heresy and constitutes grounds for dismissing the idea out of hand.  However, we challenge the reader to consider the heresy of idealism.

Some materialists pay lip service to the possible and theoretical existence of God, but only to placate the provincials.  If God is remote and out of the picture, all that is left is matter and materialism wins by the default.

Materialism and idealism do not mix.  The universe is primarily one or the other.  What is idealism?  Idealism believes in the primacy of Intelligence.  Intelligence precedes the existence of matter.  In fact, Intelligence is the software of the universe and is evident everywhere.  DNA is an example; however, more fundamentally, software is imprinted on the atom itself.  If software didn’t come first, hardware wouldn’t know how to form.  More will be said about idealism later.  Materialism believes in the primacy of matter.  Idealism believes in the primacy of Intelligence.  Materialism believes the hardware proceeds software.  Idealism believes that software (Intelligence) precedes hardware.