Many-One Thinking and the Scientific Inadequacy of Materialism

I had the pleasure of dialoging with Oliver Griebel about our shared interests in philosophy, cosmology, and the integration of modern scientific thought with spirituality. I’ve been reading the anthology that Oliver edited, Both One and Many, and particularly appreciated his insightful critiques of materialism rooted in the premise that scientific knowledge itself presupposes human personhood (conscious agency, etc.), and so cannot explain it away by reference to some favored set of abstractions.

We touched on the role of expertise and the balance between inclusivity and maintaining rigorous, well-defended philosophical and scientific foundations.

We also explored Whitehead's process philosophy and its relevance to modern scientific developments, considering its potential to offer an alternative to reductionist materialism. Oliver shared his interest in Whitehead's idea of a constantly updating universe and how this might relate to his own cosmic holism. We both agree that irreversible time is a real feature of the physical universe, contrary to some popular reductive (meta)physical arguments otherwise (eg, the block universe or cartoon “flip book” conception of the universe).

Next time we plan to delve into more theological issues.

Watch the video of our dialogue:

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