Immaterialism: The Mental Perception of Society & Individuals - Essay Sample

Introduction

Immaterialism is the process under which individuals believe that material things mainly lack the fundamental objection for their existence and instead only occur in the form of the mental perception of the particular society or individuals. On the other hand, immaterial things are things which their existence is often depicted as imaginary, they are things which are perceived to lack basic tangible from, and they are often described as to be of less importance to the particular group of individuals. The immaterial things are, therefore, believed to have less meaning in society. According to Philonus, his argument of immaterial exist under the basis of the real things being as they exist only after being seen and felt. For instance, Philonus argues that there is a clear district between reality and the imaginary, which is also immaterial.

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Philonus argues that the only real things and the actions are the ones that he can feel and sense. This argument also cuts through several aspects of the immaterialism. He is opposed to the idea of the existence of immaterial things. He also believes that for actions to be real, they should be some kind of felt and directly perceived by the individual who the actions are done to. He also believes that several activities and things are too far to be real.

Philonus argument that he cannot believe the snow is white and the fire is hot clearly shows his stand regarding the aspect of immaterialism. This also comes in under the point whereby for him to believe that fire is hot, he must have physically felt the fire. This indicates his belief, which also supports the basis of his argument. His argument clearly states that material is only that which can be seen and felt; otherwise, it is immaterial. Basing on this argument, the aspect of immaterialism is out ruled based on its dreamlike state. This implies that several elements that are not depicted as tangible and seeable are then believed to be imaginary; hence imaginations fail to attain the aspect of materialism. This also explains why phones based his argument on the perceived items and objects such as fire being hot

Secondly, Philonu's argument out rules the existence of the material substance. This argument solidly comes in to refute the presence of a material element which is depicted to be in reality by other individuals. Philonus is seen as being a skeptic on the aspect of the material substance despite it being proven by a list of a well-known scientist. His denial of same is attributed to fact that the same has nothing to do with his life. As to whether there exist material substance is regarded as a personal decision. Therefore the virtue that material substance does not necessarily interact with his own experience results in his action of denial. Philonus also believe that the aspect of science which supports the existence of a material substance is the notions of the scientist.

According to his statement on principle and theorem of science being the universal intellectual notions which are also independent of matter, it is clearly shown that his decision comes based on the fiction that he believes exist in the same. For instance, the intangible aspect of material substance backs up his argument on the same.

He further claims that the reality of sensible things being immaterial is depicted as the ignorance of those who believe in intangible things. Philonus, while arguing against existence of material substance, is portraying those who believe in material substance as being ignorant. This stands out towards the support of his decision to out rule the existence of matter. For instance, he fails to agree with Hyl, who firmly believes in the existence of material substance. This point of discussion depicts his form stand on the aspect of material substance. He also finds that sensible things are the one s which are more often perched directly or immediately by the individual to be more specifically those which are perceived by sense and backed up by truth. His argument mainly focuses on the fact that if the material substance is real only if they are seen immediately, then they should be assumed as being real. However, the contrary mainly supports his argument as the material substance is mostly not depicted as sensible. He keeps on arguing that practical things as viewed as those which have sensible qualities, which are also seen to be making sense from various perspectives among several individuals. In his argument, the practical materials are also backed up by the sensibility in their combination of the qualities which also accompany the substances themselves.

Similarly, phone argument regarding heat and cold stipulates that the existence of the heat and cold can only be seen in one's mind; therefore, it is depicted as imaginable. His argument is based on the fact that the only moment that he can effectively perceive heat as hot, for example, the hotness of fire is until when he finally feels it. However, the unperceived hotness is only felt in one mind; hence it is depicted as immaterial. This thesis amount to the aspect of perception; the difference in perception of the various element of both heat and cold stands out in this argument. Philonus brings out the element of difference in perception. He furthers put it out clearly that perception of various matters depends on the actual individual feeling the action. In his argument that heat is only hot when he feels it, he forms the basis of the actions being felt bey the doer as the individual who is only being told about the hotness of heat has unperceived perception.

Philonus shows skepticism aspect toward the existence of nature because of his perception that explains that actions are only felt by those who are doing it. If for instance, one is in coldness, it is clear that the particular individuals are the only ones experiencing the coldness feeling. The same case as to an individual under pain. While those in pain or under coldness experience the same, it is clear that their counterparts do not perceive the same feeling they are feeling out of the situation they are in. This significantly explains the difference in perception. Therefore, he argues for this based on personal understanding and an individual’s feelings.

How One Might Extend The Argument

This kind of argument might be attempted by the individual to extend the same form of argument to portray the secondary qualities; for example, the taste only occurs in one's minds in the following manner.

First of all, the conception of perception plays an important role in individuals' minds. Following Philonous argument, one might easily use the same criteria to depict the suffering that they are undergoing or the trouble they are in, which is then blended in the major secondary characteristics such as traits to depict the existence of suffering to their peers. For instance, an individual might eventually opt to develop a sense of bitterness toward a certain event and portray the same towards his or her fellow. This action results in one showing his personal experience towards the other regarding a certain action, belief, or experience. However, the same only exist in a particular person's mind; hence the character portrayed in the doing is only depicting the individual's character, which exists in one’s mind. Such actions cannot be transferred as they mainly exist in one’s particular mind and are often influenced by individuals' perceptions.

Reasoned Evaluation Of Philonous’ Argument Regarding Heat And Cold

The existence of cold and heat is a phenomenon that has been proven to exist and practically proven. Heat presence is felt in several aspects, which mainly include the senses of feeling and sight. On the other side, the presence of cold is depicted as a feeling which is only backed up with one sense of feeling. According to Philonous, he clearly states that both heat and cold are immaterial things. This indicates that heat and cold are imaginary and that as to whether the individual feels the heat often in hotness or the cold in coldness in one’s mind.

To a certain degree, I present my objection to this argument, simply because of virtue that both heat and cold have been proved to exist. My objections firstly come into the place whereby a lot of scientific research has been conducted to prove the existence of the same despite the same being intangible. The presence of fire has been greatly attributed to several practical experiments, which have also proved the presence of hotness in it. The hotness has resulted in availability of heat in the same. Similarly, the presence of coldness has been both physically been felt. Just like his argumentative view suggests that the objects are only deemed to be in existence when the same has been felt, the feeling of coldness, which is more evident in a list pot situation, clearly supports the cold.

Secondly, Philonous argument regarding the heat and cold to be immaterial is wrong. This is because the experiment has seen the presence of condenses, both intangible and tangible. For instance, freezing as a result of coldness has clearly out ruled this assumption. Since freezing is an aspect of coldness, its occurrence is a clear indicator of the existence of the same. The aspect of perception slow backs the presence of cold as the individuals often highly perceive coldness under numerous circumstance. The virtue that the existence of coldness has been felt under many scenarios also supports the presence of coldness both in one’s mind and physical form. This argument, especially Philonous’s one, is deemed to fail to succeed because of the information which Philonous incorporate in it. For instance, the generalization of list of immaterial things tends to reduce the weight of the argument as some of the things generalized are often on the contrary.

In my view, my final decree lies upon the fact that immaterialism, which often consists a list of substance which are imaginary should not be conclusively related to some aspect which is truly visible and is felt. For instance, immaterial substance indeed exists in various forms like being, ideas, and mostly in the state of mind. Such immaterial tings should be carefully be scrutinized and evaluated s more of intangible to avoid contradicting the same with the list of material substance which has features that both qualify physical properties and mental properties. This argument can be successfully be supported and defended against the existing critique that might be going against the same because of the series of evidential information it portrays in it.