Reason versus Materialism, or, Purpose versus Pointlessness.

The reason versus materialism debate takes causality to its ultimate and unavoidable source.

I almost titled this "Materialistic Stupid-Ass-ism" but then I thought better of it. 

Vic Biorseth, OWM; Wednesday, March 12, 2014
https://www.catholicamericanthinker.com

The Pure Materialist Argument, as a metaphysical argument, immediately compromises itself by not being physical.  If thinking, or thought itself, let alone a coherent argument or position, is nothing but a set or string of accidental physical encounters of different material particles (chemical reactions, electro- magnetic impulses, etc.), then it cannot be trusted as an argument, or as anything with meaning.  Yet the pure materialist argument itself is recognized as being, and as having meaning.  If multiples of men recognize, at least, some purpose and meaning in the same purely metaphysical argument, then it must be admitted that there exists something beyond the purely physical.

Thought itself - memory, consciousness, etc. - is ephemeral. 

If thought is not physical, then the Pure Materialist argument is compromised into the Not Purely Materialistic argument.  If an idea or a algebraic formula is immaterial and not physical then the pure materialist argument is destroyed; hence, the compromise argument. 

Nevertheless, many if not most materialists continue to hold to pure materialism, which must call reason itself into question.  They arrive at their argument, they say, through reason, which is a product of immaterial human thought.  An impossibility, if their argument be true. 

We have talked about the Faith Versus Atheism argument, and about the "unreasonableness" of the pure materialist position.  We talked about the great rupture and seemingly permanent separation between theological science and material science in the Modernism discussion.  It's all about reason, which, in the purest of the pure materialist belief system, is theoretically impossible.  And yet the pure materialists insist that they are being reasonable. 

Multiple Popes down through the ages have written encyclicals or exhortations or letters or homilies with the words "faith" and "reason" together in the title.  Faith and reason go together.  It was the Modernist Heresy that split them apart. 

When most modern day material scientists talk about faith and reason, it is always faith versus reason, never faith and reason.  It is one or the other; faith and reason are held to be incompatible, and even enemies of each other.  One may be faithful, or one may be reasonable, but never both. 

They don't even see that they themselves exhibit faith - raw faith - in their materially and empirically unprovable belief in pure materialism. 

"All there is is matter" is their core belief system, and only material science can explain it, and everything.  There is nothing that cannot eventually be explained by pure material science.  Their failure to even recognize that their own core belief system, which so very many of them hold in common, is itself an immaterial thing, is the very point at which Materialistic Stupid Ass-ism enters the picture. 

Hayek's Counter Revolution of Science coined the term Scientism to describe the metamorphosis of the Scientific Method into a Science of Consensus, or a sort of Democratic Science.  After this "revolution" scientific hypotheses advanced to become scientific theories by popular vote rather than empirical evidences. 

Now, there are still real scientists out there, to be sure, and real science is still going on.  However, the non pure-materialist material scientists are the ones you very seldom if ever hear from. 

At the base of all modern branches of materialistic stupid ass-ism stand, of course, Darwinian Stupid-Ass-ism, Freudian Stupid-Ass-ism and Marxian Stupid-Ass-ism. 

Seriously.  Scratch a modern day Global Warming Stupid Ass and you will find a Darwinian Stupid Ass just beneath the surface. 

Materialistic Stupid-Ass-ism is leading America and the world into the common cesspool of absolute stupid ass-ism. 

I'm telling you, if we don't destroy the government education system, the future is lost. 

Seek the Truth; find the Way; live the Life; please God and live forever. 

=====

Sarcastic Acronym Hover-Link Footnotes: For the convenience of those readers using devices that lack a mouse, these footnotes are provided for all webpages, in case any webpage contains any hover-links. (If you don't have a mouse, you can't "hover" it over a link without clicking just to see the simple acronym interpretation. Click any footnote link to see the acronym and a detailed explanation; "Hover" the mouse over it just to see the simple interpretation.)

SLIMC¹ Secularist Liberal Intellectual Media Complex
GESGOEAEOT² Gradually, Ever So Gradually, Over Eons And Eons Of Time
PEWAG³ Punctuated Equilibrium's Wild-Assed Guess
TTRSTF⁴ Them There Real Scientifical-Type Fellers
TTRSPTF⁵ Them There Real Smart Perfesser-Type Fellers
TTRSJTF⁶ Them There Real Smart Journalistical-Type Fellers
SNRTACBT⁷ Surely No Right Thinking Adult Could Believe Today
STNSEACPB⁸ Surely Today No Serious Educated Adult Could Possibly Believe
WDN⁹ We Don't Know
BMDFP¹⁰ Baboons, Mongrel Dogs, Filthy Pigs and ...
HBAACOTE¹¹ Human Beings Are A Cancer On The Earth
ACLU¹² Anti-Christian Litigation Union
FLORMPORIF¹³ Flagrant Liar, Or, Mindless Parrot, Or, Innocent Fool
MEJTML¹⁴ Marxist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
IEJTML¹⁵ Islamic Ends-Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
MPAV¹⁶ Marxist Principles And Values
WBESSWG¹⁷ Wise, Benign, Elite, Super-Scientific World Governance
TRMITM¹⁸ The Reason Man's In This Mess
IYI¹⁹ Intellectual Yet Idiotic
TTRSCBTF²⁰ Them There Real Smart Catholic Bishop Type Fellers
IACMPVND²¹ Illegal-Alien-Criminal Marxocrat-Party-Voting Nation-Destroyers
PEJTML²² Palestinian Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
PSYOP²³ "Psychological Operation" Mind Trick
CDC²⁴ Covid Developmentally Challenged
LGBTQ+ Every Letter Represents A Serious Psychotic sexual Identity Disorder
HEJTML²⁶ Hedonist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
SEJTML²⁷ Scientistic Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar

Reference Material

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 07:35:57 2014
From:  Sue
Email:   rcsherillj@gmail.com
Location:  Hudgins, VA / USA
Comment: 

You'll love this:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/12-0

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Sue:

Yeah, right. 

Dingbat "historian" Diane Ravitch proves my point here.  Scratch a modern day Progressive stupid ass and you will find a Marxian stupid ass just beneath the surface. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 13:52:50 2014
From:  Mickey
Email:   migrace1@gmail.com
Location:  Tucson, AZ, United States
Comment: 

Thanks Vic You give new insight and understanding (with all the gory details) of why: The natural man understands NOT the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. So then I ask you does knowing why one is crazy help him overcome it and regain sanity?

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Mickey:

Some, yes.  But for many, no.  Many are so steeped in falsehood and error that their thinking is too clouded and they are far too "certain" of what they think they "know". 

Think of all the people, from all walks of life, who are now convinced of the "normalcy" of the homosexual condition.  That sex using artificial contraception is somehow the "natural" way to practice sex.  That homosexual marriage should be acceptable and even celebrated in a modern society.  That a mother aborting her own "unwanted" baby for economic reasons should be some kind of new norm.  Scratch any one of these stupid asses, who do not even know that they are such stupid asses, and you will find a Freudian stupid ass just beneath the surface. 

Knowing that there is only one final judge of men, and I am not Him, and you are not Him, just pretend for a hypothetical moment that you are Him.  Considering the Progressive stupid asses in Washington right now, do you see any possible conversion and redemption for, say,

• Maxine Waters?
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz?
• Comrade Obama (peace be upon him)?
• Joe Biden?
  
• Harry Reid?
• Nancy Pelosi?

That's funny; neither do I. 

Remember Matthew 25: there will be goats, and there will be sheep.  Everybody ain't gonna make the cut. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 19:34:45 2014
From:  Fr. Alan B. Maria
Email:   
Location:  Expatriated in Brazil (missionary)
Comment: 

Ave Maria!

Bravo, Vic! I don't know if the argument you present is original – about the inherent contradiction in the materialist's use of immaterial reason to negate the existence of anything immaterial – but it is brilliant. If there is an honest materialist out there, intelligent enough to understand the argument, he will be forced to humbly concede that he has been mistaken, and admit the existence of an immaterial reality, spiritual reality.

The problem with hardened materialists however, is not one of the Intellect but of the Will. Their obsession to deny the spiritual arises from a guilty conscience and the obstinate refusal to conform to moral truth. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. That is, they want to be free to engage in immoral behavior and be free of guilt as well.

So what is the solution they propose? Negate the foundation of morality: God, along with the realist philosophy that recognizes the necessity of God. By their specious reasoning, if there is no God, no Absolute Legislator Who gives Order to Being, then each individual with an intellect and will becomes his own absolute master and can do as he pleases.

But, as you and I realize, this argument is illogical. It is based on an inherently contradictory premise: the possibility of reason or thought, of intellect and will, in a purely material reality. In order to tranquilize his guilty conscience, the materialist (willful atheist) appeals to immaterial reason in order to deny the existence of the immaterial – with the aim of eliminating any “rational” truth (i.e., God) that might interfere with the absolute self-referential freedom he desires. If he adheres insistently to this illogic, the result is insanity, or less dramatically, stupidity (as you were tempted to indicate with an  alternative title, against which you prudently decided).

Sin darkens the intellect (cf. Eph 4:18, Rom 1:22-25, St. Augustine). Everyone knows that you can't reason with a lunatic; the same goes with a hardened sinner. All we can do is pray for him and hope that he will be touched by Grace.

For a good treatment of this problem, see Mark Shea's “The Darkened Intellect Serves the Fallen Will” - http://www.crisismagazine.com/2008/the-darkened-intellect-serves-the-fallen-will ).

My confrère, Fr. Ignatius Mary Manfredonia, Franciscan of the Immaculate (FI) (“semper FI”) also explains this very well in a sermon that you can watch on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moFQKXLAtoQ (the explanation of the darkening effect of sin begins at 2 min 27 sec.) He also explains how the present global moral crisis stems primarily from the denial of the existence of God (3 min 40 sec).

Speaking of the relation between atheism (a militant obsession for true Marxists) and the spread of evil in our day, I cannot help but think of Our Lady of Fatima's warning: “The Blessed Virgin has told us,” confided Sr. Lucia to Fr Fuentes, that “... Russia will be the instrument of heavenly punishment for the world, if we do not obtain beforehand the conversion of that poor nation.”

Only a darkened mind could fail to see to see the connection between Our Lady's warning regarding Russia (pronounced in 1917, on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution that led the the creation of the atheistic Marxist world-power, the former USSR) and to the spread of atheist ideology throughout the world.

Where God is denied, sin abounds, and when sin is obstinate, it sometimes leads to "Materialistic Stupid-Ass-ism", and the light of the intellect is obscured.

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Fr. Alan:

Ave Maria right back atcha!  Good to hear from you again. 

The argument is original, but I didn't think it was particularly brilliant.  It just seems obvious, on two levels.  First, everything - including us - is either a product of a series of random accidents, or, a product of a design with a purpose.  Second, if only material can be considered "real" then the words on this page and the meaning you discern from them is not real, for they are born of immaterial thought, and conveyed to another to be immaterially thought about, if that makes any sense.  And of course it does not. 

You are so right about the will.  But the horrible thing about it is that so many untold millions are raised up, educated and steeped in this stuff, all their lives.  How do we get through to them, when they are devoid of critical thinking and resistant to learning? 

God is denied everywhere, and that is the problem. 

I cannot dwell on it too long without stopping to pray.  I keep falling into the mortal sin of despair when I look at my country and at the larger world.  It is so hard to retain hope.  I don't know how many times I have repented and confessed it, and it happens again.  There are so few true champions of truth out there, in the Church,  in politics, in religion in general, in science, in education - there are so many different ways America is being purposely destroyed, all at once, and there are so many who do not even see it. 

Father, do you ever feel that you are just beating a dead horse? 

Warmest Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Thu Mar 13 23:39:50 2014
From:  Fr. Alan B. Maria
Email:   
Location:  
Comment: 

Ave Maria!

Vic, at the moment I feel like the dead horse that keeps getting beaten. And that is as it should be: no disciple is greater than his Master. Our Lord, the Just, was betrayed, tried, condemned and executed by those He came to save. He – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – rejected by men. If what we see so clearly is not obvious to others, should we be surprised?

In a certain sense, our situation is analogous to that of the pacifist, A. J. Muste, who, in silent protest of the war with which he didn't agree, stood in front of the White House night after night with a candle. One rainy night, a reporter asked, “Mr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?” Muste replied, "Oh, I don't do it to change the country, I do it so the country won't change me.” Agree with his pacificism or not, his dedication and authenticity are to be admired.

I can understand the temptation to despair. The weight of the seemingly hopeless plight of man, the regular triumph of stupidity and mediocrity over good sense and righteousness, they used to get me down. But I think I have become adjusted to the truth of what Our Lord said: “Without me, you can do no good.” And the world does not know or accept Christ, hence...

It is a tragedy that so many – the overwhelming majority – are satisfied with “bread and circus,” and unconcerned about eternal life, let alone the present world-fiasco, but it is nothing new. If anything, I feel compassion (at least at this moment, as I write) for the ignorant masses. Beyond the basic human condition of our fallen nature, they are victims of a diabolical global oppression, wrought by corrupt men with megalomaniacal dreams and a contempt for humanity. So instead of despair, I feel indignation, even though I have no delusions about being able to do anything more to change the world situation than perhaps to die as a witness to the Truth (unworthy though I be for such a grace). I think of the heroic St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, whose witness inspires millions still, even though he died in a starvation bunker in Auschwitz. All his considerable apostolate was destroyed, but his witness of charity remains forever. Only such examples of holiness and conformity to Christ will have any lasting effect that might help the world.

It also helps against despair to see that as much as things change and that evil seems to be climaxing in our lifetime, it really isn't anything new. Just think of the words of King David in Psalm 2, written 3,000 years ago:

I think your contribution to the collective consciousness of those who visit this website, besides being entertaining and enlightened – an island of sanity, clear vision, and fidelity in a sea of confusion, ignorance, and treachery – is an righteous witness to the truth. Even if you were to achieve nothing more than to preserve your own sanity by launching your barrage of coherent essays into the blogosphere, I think your efforts would be justified. Not unlike Muste's pacific protest. And I am inclined to agree with Muste's view: “Joy and growth come from following our deepest impulses, however foolish they may seem to some, or dangerous, and even though the apparent outcome may be defeat.”

Keep up the good work, and when tempted to despair, remember that Our Lady of Fatima's message is crowned with a promise: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will Triumph.”

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Date:  Fri Mar 14 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Fr. Alan:

Thank you; it is good to remember and realize that things have been even worse in this world. 

But there was such a turning for the good in the birth of America!  I cannot read the Declaration, or the Constitution, or the Federalist Papers, without concluding that the authors were not moved by any particular genius, but by Divine Inspiration.  When all of that, and all that so many fought and died for, is being systematically destroyed from within, right before all of our eyes, and most people don't see, or either don't care enough about it, or cooperate in the destruction, it is very hard to remember all those worse times in history.  America is, seemingly willingly, going into historical oblivion. 

Even where God is not denied, He is ignored, and He is not only denied, but opposed.  That is the the sentiment that predominates everywhere. 

I wish I had the solid faith of the Psalmist.  Perhaps I love America too much.  I know our Lady's Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end, but what will America look like when He comes again?  Smoke, ashes and ruin, or a shining beacon on a hill?  And what will the larger world look like, in the absence of a strong, moral and decent America? 

It does not look good. 

Nevertheless, I will saddle up, draw my rhetorical sword and have at it, against the cruel, heartless and soulless enemy.  And senseless.  What strengthens my grip on my own sanity is recognition of the stupid-assed beliefs of the Godless and the anti-God enemy. 

I will say another Hail Mary, trust in God, and attack.  So long as He grants me breath. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Fri Mar 14 22:58:07 2014
From:  Hank
Email:   
Location:  Joplin
Comment: 

Something is missing here.  In the article you seem to be avoiding the alternative to this stupid ass-ism, which is God.  Why not include strong arguments for the existence of a designer of material and close the loop? 

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Date:  Sat Mar 15 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Hank: 

See the Faith Vs. Atheism page, and Eugene Rudder's Why Believe in God pages for good arguments for God.  This page is different. 

Like many or most of my webpages, this is an attack page, and when I attack untruth I prefer to do it on the enemy's own ground.  The stupid ass does not believe in God; at the core of just about all stupid assed arguments is direct opposition to God.  So what I set out to do is attack their argument on their own argumentative ground, using their own sub-arguments to destroy it in on their own terms, without even bringing any alternative argument into it. Then they should (and they would, if they were not totally stupid assed) fall into the alternative argument on their own. 

Most frequently the first, and most often, the only defense of their pet argument is to bring in and challenge any alternative argument, which is never the point.  Their own argument can either stand up to full frontal assault on its own ground, or it cannot. 

That's what I did in the Origin of Species page attacking Darwinism, and the sole defense anyone ever put up against it involved shooting down alternative theories.  I don't let them get away with it.  It was the same with the Repressed Memory Syndrome page attacking Freudianism, and it was the same with the Refuting Marxism page. 

Standing on their own, their arguments are unsubstantiated and simply indefensible.  Which is to say that they are stupid assed arguments, championed by stupid assed people. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Sat Mar 15 21:19:22 2014
From:  Suzanne
Email:   
Location:  
Comment: 

If by government education you mean tax paid then you are opposing nearly all American organized education.  America has had such public education from the earliest colonial days. 

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Date:  Sun Mar 16 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Suzanne:

That may be true, but not at the federal level.  That is new, and it is extra-constitutional if not unconstitutional. 

American formal education was first infected with immorality by effete, super-elitist Leftists like like John Dewey and the flat out Marxists of the infamous "Frankfort School" who took charge of educating and credentialing all future American public school educators.  See the Refuting Free Love page and the following reader dialogue.  With the birth of a cabinet-level department of education, all of American public education became one big Leftist social experiment.  The more Progressive-Marxist the government became, the more it dumbed-down formal education, promoted fundamental immorality and opposed God. 

Many so-called "Catholic" schools are right behind the public schools in this area, thanks to Bishops who have gone modern, and who publicly celebrate public figures who "come out" as open, practicing homosexual perverts. So lots of Catholic Bishops are right in there with modern public school teachers, who follow the new modernist ethos of BMDFP¹⁰ and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

In colonial public education, no hired teachers were teaching kindergarteners how to masturbate; that is entirely new. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Tue May 27 23:06:58 2014
From:  Keith
Email:   
Location:  
Comment: 

Proving the existence of the immaterial does not prove the existence of God.

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Date:  Wed May 28 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Keith:

That is true.  You are on the right path.  Keep thinking about it. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Mon Jun 09 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Nimrod:

If you want your comment to be published here you will have to clean up the vulgarity and try again.  You might begin by washing out your mouth, and maybe your mind.  As to your only coherent challenge, try reading the Faith Versus Atheism page. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Wed Jun 11 17:54:09 2014
From:  Lester and Mary
Email:   
Location:  
Comment: 

Mr. Vic:

Do you know about http://atheists.org/ and their new atheist TV channel? 

How do you respond to their arguments against God? 

Yours truly,

Lester and Mary

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Date:  Thu Jun 12 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Lester and Mary:

From what I've seen, they don't have a decent argument.  All they have is religious fervor and zeal for their rather silly belief system. 

They always seem very upset that so many others believe in God, it makes them very angry, and so they set themselves to legally attack belief wherever they see it.  Where they cannot convince or convert believers, they seek to render religious belief and practice illegal and force it underground. 

Aggressive fundamental atheism is a very dangerous religion, especially for Constitutional America.  The reason it is dangerous is that it replaces the life-guiding ethos of believers with a non-ethos; a cold, purely utilitarian, purely materialistic world view. 

The world has experience it under atheist leaders like Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler and Mao Tse Tung.   That experience always involved mass murder, concentration camps, purposely caused famines and almost unbelievable cruelty, including even genocide. 

Historically, aggressive fundamental atheism has always resulted in horrible treatment of human beings, because atheists hold nothing whatsoever to be sacred, and deny even the term "sacredness".  In atheism, there is and can be no such thing as good and evil, right or wrong, only pure utility, or usefulness. 

The danger to Constitutional America posed by the religion of aggressive fundamentalist atheism was warned of by Alexis de Tocqueville long ago:  When American citizens stop being a good people (in accordance with the Judeo-Christian Ethos) America will stop being a great nation, and begin her decline. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:   Mon Aug 18 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Changes pursuant to changing the website URL and name from 
Thinking Catholic Strategic Center to
Catholic American Thinker.

Pulled the trigger on the 301 MOVE IT option June 1, 2014. Working my way through all the webpages.  . 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:   Fri Sep 12 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Added the graphic at the top.  

Regards,

Vic

---

Date:   Tue Sep 30 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Removed the graphic at the top.  It's in the right column, linking to this webpage.

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Thu Jan 08 2015
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

I thought the latest Vortex was quite appropriate to this topic.  Click the image to view. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Fri Jan 21 23:11:52 2022
From:  Frank
Email:   
Location:  Newark NJ
Comment: 

Best argument for the spiritual aspect of material reality I have seen.

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