Materialism
by Simon Kidd
If materialism is defined as the theory that all that really exists is matter, then how does the materialist explain how matter thinks and feels; categorizes and explains; questions and asserts; imagines and hopes; and believes and doubts? Is it not paradoxical that matter should be able to wonder about itself, define itself, describe itself, and objectify itself?
Or has the materialist got things the wrong way around, by abstracting the concept of ‘matter’ from the objects of experience, and then reifying it into some stuff that is supposed to explain that very experience? Doesn’t the materialist presuppose the very thing that needs to be explained? Why doesn’t the materialist take ‘awareness’ to be the fundamental given? Can there even be ‘matter’ without awareness?
Reflections 
Simon : Unlike you , I have no training in this area , but find it interesting to look for meaning in it all .
Theory is a bit of relief & comfort in the face of the unknown , but our inability to find supporting proof is always a bit of an embarrassment .
From his personal mental experience , Rene Descartes pre-supposed the reality of his own thought , & from that , he deduced the reality of his own existence (“I think therefore I am”).
I prefer Descartes’ starting point myself but , like the rest of the unwashed , I can’t prove its validity .
In fact what CAN we actually prove ? For instance – who says matter is incapable of thought ? what is the proof of that theory ?
Theoretically , there seems to me no reason why matter cannot exist without awareness . Stranger things have happened .
I suppose it is us ourselves (ie. the observer) that we should orientate our inquiries upon .
What’s to be done , Simon ? We’d better , at least , come up with another theory , to start with – eh ?
The preface to Kevin Shepherd’s “Meaning in Anthropos” advises that part of the author’s motivation for writing it was to counter the ultra materialist views of professor Marvin Harris & his theory of Cultural Materialism , which espoused a research strategy that excluded all metaphysical elements whatsoever .