Materialist Paradigm Research Articles

For other ways of life: cosmopolitics in regulations, utopias and spiritualities

This article critically approaches our anthropocentric relationship with the planet and raises alternatives to think about cosmopolitical regulations and utopias as potentialities for the reestablishment of the planet's equilibrium. To do so, it is necessary to understand the Earth as a living organism, Gaia, as in fact various peoples and cultures already recognize it. We try to imagine how other worlds, other ways of living and relating to other beings and natural elements would be possible. We thus aim to think about, question, and eventually regulate the rights of nature and its relations with health and spirituality in the appropriation and production of social space, of living spaces. In spite of the advances observed in Latin America in the regulation of society/nature relations, Brazil is still characterized by an anthropocentric legislation that references human domination over other beings and elements. The apparent advances in the line of ecological modernization, or 'green stamps', in fact do not address the issues and causes that determine or contribute to the destruction of the planet, or even to the threats posed today to all organisms, including Gaia herself. Cosmopolitical regulations and utopias can be empowered to achieve other ways of life, changing the hegemonic anthropocentric perspective to an ecocentric approach, and perhaps even changing the dominant materialist paradigm to a new paradigm that recognizes the spiritual-materialist dialectical relationship and the necessary sacralization of everyday life.

The dynamic impact assessment of clean energy and green innovation in realizing environmental sustainability of G‐20

AbstractIn the context of the growth and development process, stability in environmental quality has remained a challenging issue to sustainable development, as several environmental problems, such as climate conditions, anthropogenic global warming, deforestation, and escalating degradation of water and air quality, depict a rising trend. In the contemporary materialistic paradigm, attaining a high economic growth rate while ensuring sustainable consumption of natural resources is impossible. The world needs to attain an economic growth rate that confirms sustainability in natural resource consumption and exploitation of resources introduced severe alert about the sustainability of such trajectory progress as an increase in economic growth upsurges natural reserve usage and energy demand, which leads to environmental deprivation. Both theoretical and empirical literature support that green or clean energy sources could significantly sustain environmental quality and foster economic growth. The recent literature assessed the role of green technology in promoting environmental sustainability. It emphasizes that green innovations are the most competent method to carry the competent use of resources, thereby reducing environmental degradation. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to analyze the impact of economic growth, clean energy, technological innovations, natural resources depletion, and green and sustainable technology on the environmental degradation of G‐20 nations in the frame spanning from 1992 to 2018. The results of cross‐sectional‐autoregressive‐distributed lag (CS‐ARDL) model estimation indicate the presence of a long‐run association between economic growth, number of filled applications for patents, development of environment‐related technologies as a percentage of all technologies, natural resources rents (NRR) as a percentage of GDP, renewable energy consumption, trade openness and environment degradation of G‐20 nations. This study re‐confirmed the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for selected nations. Further, the study's findings revealed that cleaner energy and technological innovations, mainly green technology, play a significant role in sustaining the environmental conditions of these selected countries. Moreover, the degree of natural resource depletion directly impacts environmental degradation (CO₂ emission, total greenhouse gases emission and ecological footprints) in selected nations. The study underscores the importance of promoting clean energy, green technology, and sustainable practices to balance economic growth and environmental preservation and provides policymakers in G‐20 nations with valuable policy recommendations.

AL-QUR’AN, REALITAS, SAINTISME, DAN PERSOALAN FILSAFAT ILMU: SUATU TINJAUAN RINGKAS

Assuming that science alone could represent reality and the facts of the proclamation of nature, the materialistic paradigm that originated in the West divorced science from religion and viewed Islamic science as being opposed to relativity and the affirmation of transcendence. This research intends to demonstrate how the Qur'anic construction of reality serves as the foundation for the advancement of Islamic science. This study also highlights several issues brought about by Scientism's haughtiness, as well as by its own justifications and those of Muslim intellectuals. Researchers collected data utilizing descriptive analysis research methodologies from the Koran, hadith, and books using library research as the source. The results of this investigation demonstrate that scientism is an unscientific philosophy that is neither philosophically rational nor scientific. The paper also comes to the conclusion that natural science cannot be the exclusive means of understanding reality from the perspective of Islamic Science philosophy since methodology is intrinsically tied to the levels and diversity of existence as matter or data. According to epistemology, the interaction between the subject's (reviewer) and the object's faculties of science is the science's method and takes place during an intellectual process for the purpose of producing a science

Consciousness, Neo-Idealism and the Myth of Mental Illness

Over a long career in the psychiatric profession spanning six decades, Thomas Szasz has forcefully argued that mental illnesses are mythical since all medical diseases are located in the body and, thus, have somatic causes. This has been accompanied by a scathing and coruscating critique of the whole mental health profession, particularly those psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists who collude in and exploit the alleged mythology of counterfeit mental disorders and often (unwittingly or deliberately) justify coercion, oppression and pharmacological manipulation of so-called ‘mental patients’ in the name of ‘treatments’. Although there has been a measure of support for this approach in recent years – especially the emphasis on the social context of mental illness and the complexity of mind/body dualism – the main thesis has tended to be misunderstood and undervalued. However, recent critiques of the scientific materialist paradigm within philosophy of mind and consciousness studies can help to illuminate the key arguments in this sphere and provide a foundation for work in the mental health field. After examining the main tenets of Szasz’s thesis, the work of neo-idealist philosophers and scientists such as Kastrup, Hoffman and McGilchrist will be utilised to present an alternative re-imagining of the central problems. The neo-idealist concept of consciousness as an ultimate primitive combined with the work of McGilchrist on the ways in which the divided brain serves to shape reality can be utilised to produce a perspective on mental health and illness supported by a solid foundation in neuroscience and philosophy of mind.

Self, Consciousness and Neo-Idealism: exploring critical alternatives to the materialist paradigm in the promotion of mental health in higher education

Concerns about the deteriorating mental health of university students have been researched and documented over the last few decades, and there is some evidence of an intensification of the problems as a result of the recent Covid pandemic and resulting lockdowns. The central thesis of this paper is that all such mental health problems are exacerbated by a dominant hegemonic culture of materialism which – supported and reinforced by the culture of neoliberalism – celebrates a reified conception of a solitary self divorced from the social networks which provide the conditions for psychological nourishment and mind/body wellbeing. In order to challenge such a potentially harmful culture, a process of ‘unselfing’ through a critique of the metaphysical materialism which underpins the current orthodoxy is proposed alongside a set of strategies drawn from Buddhist principles which seek to uncover the delusions which serve to bolster the neoliberal self. In conclusion, a number of changes are recommended in the form of a critical dimension which may be incorporated into learning programmes at all levels in higher education institutions with a view to enhancing mind/body wellbeing.

Stories of a Transformation in Consciousness: A self-study to ground narrative inquiry research in consciousness education

Abstract This article is a narrative account of my search for knowledge about the nature of consciousness, and the implications of my findings for research and education. For over three decades, I accepted the dominant script presented to me through my education, both formal and informal, which assumes that the brain creates consciousness. Further, when the brain dies, consciousness dies with it. However, the unexpected death of my partner pushed me to investigate these assumptions. Through reading consciousness studies research, I learned of considerable empirical evidence that challenges the materialist paradigm taken for granted in the educational and social cultures in which I was raised. An analysis of the literature, combined with the learning gained from my own experiences, transformed my understanding of reality. This led me to radically question the ontological and epistemological assumptions of mainstream educational and social research. I end with a call for the development of an integral framework for consciousness education that would liberate researchers and educators from the materialist paradigm that is so deeply embedded in Western culture and contribute to an emerging postmaterialist worldview.

Postmaterial Participatory Research: Exploring the nature of self with children

Abstract In this article, I argue for the value of participatory methodologies, in research with children, which aims to privilege their epistemologies and living experiences in relation to the nature of self. Researching self with children raises questions about the mainstream materialist paradigm which holds hegemony over most academic disciplines – and, importantly, over the life worlds of everyday people. Children’s experiences of self, others and the world challenge the dominant materialist paradigm, requiring investigation into other metaphysical models of reality, that may have more explanatory power than materialism. I address this by appealing to a body of scholarship referred to as ‘postmaterialist’. Reauthoring our nature as human beings carries an increasing importance and urgency in the face of current ecological, economical and health crises. I argue that any research, which seeks to facilitate social transformation through everyday people, needs to begin by asking ontological questions about the nature of the self - the subject of experience who holds and reports epistemological authority over their subjective experiences.

Implications of postmaterialist theories of consciousness for psychiatry: towards an integral paradigm

Abstract Mental health professionals can help patients understand exceptional and paranormal experiences, integrate them into day-to-day life, and cope with confusion and anxiety that sometimes accompany them. However, a broader clinical perspective and specialized training in clinical parapsychology is needed. In the first part of the paper I argue that psychiatry as currently practiced is limited because it embraces a strictly materialist paradigm, emphasizes treatment over prevention, and relies principally on pharmaceuticals that are often ineffective and/or unsafe. A paradigm shift in psychiatry is taking place that will soon lead to novel concepts of energy and innovations in therapeutic approaches. In the second part of the paper I review the ongoing debate over consciousness, implications of novel understandings of energy for psychiatry, and research findings in physics, neuroscience and parapsychology that are contributing to a postmaterialist paradigm in psychiatry. I comment on an important problem in the philosophy of science called Hempel’s dilemma and argue that future scientific theories of consciousness will probably encounter similar conceptual limits to those faced by current theories. Following Beauregard, Trent and Schwartz (2018) I argue that different categories of theories may be needed to adequately explain the variety of human experiences and I propose an integral paradigm that acknowledges the validity of both conventional scientific explanations and postmaterialist theories of consciousness. Finally, I discuss implications of postmaterialism for research, education and training in psychiatry.

“Vergangenheitsbewältigung” revisited: Distinguishing two paradigms of working through the past

Social movements like BLM and Rhodes Must Fall have recently re-emphasized the need for “working through” our collective past. I argue that we must be careful to distinguish two distinct and sometimes conflicting understandings of what it means to work through the past. An “idealist” understanding which sees “working through” as a process of self-enlightenment and moral learning through uncovering and acknowledging past moral failures and incorporating them into our collective self-image. The “materialist paradigm”, in contrast, understands “working through” as a process of uncovering the ways in which the structural causes of past moral catastrophe have endured into the present. It rejects idealist calls for reconciliation with the past and present and aims at the negative goal of preventing future moral catastrophe through changing tainted social structures. I argue, finally, that effective processes of working through the past have to engage in both idealist myth-building and materialist deconstruction.

Konsep Hasrat Perspektif Deleuze dan Al-Ghazali (Analisis Perbandingan Makna Hasrat dalam Psikologi)

Desire is becoming an increasingly intense discussion in this era. Not only that, desire is even considered to be the main paradigm of social life. Gilles Deleuze is one of those Western thinkers who focused on the problem of desire. In Islam, there is al-Ghazali who is also no less focused on desire. With a descriptive-comparative method and a philosophical approach, this paper intends to examine the conceptual comparison between the two figures.The results of the analysis show that there are similarities in thought between Deleuze and al-Ghazali, those are (i) Both agree that desire is mechanical and moving, (ii) both agree that desire has an important role in human life, (iii) they both share the view that desire is an entity that must exist in humans. The differences are (i) first, in terms of paradigm. Deleuze describes desire in a completely immanent and materialist paradigm. As for al-Ghazali, he explained desire with a divine (revelation) -philosophical paradigm. Second, Deleuze views desire as something completely positive and creative. As for al-Ghazali, although desire has a positive role, it still needs to be controlled. Because in essence, the nature of desire is bad. Third, Therefore, for Deleuze, desire needs to be freed from various constraints such as social norms, customs, or religion. Meanwhile, according to al-Ghazali, desire needs to be controlled through the mujahada. Fourth, for Deleuze, his idea of desire is not in line with moral values, but it is still ethical. Meanwhile, according to al-Ghazali, human desire should be controlled so that he becomes a moral individual.

A Reality Based on Consciousness

"This paper addresses the central idea of nonlocal consciousness: that all life is interconnected and interdependent, that we are part of a matrix of life, but even more fundamentally than spacetime itself arises from consciousness, not consciousness from spacetime. It is not a new idea. The excavation of burials dating to the Neolithic (≈ 10,200-2,000 BCE) has revealed that early humans had a sense of spirituality and some concept about the nature of human consciousness. It discusses the bargain made between the Roman Church, and the emerging discipline of science in the 16th century, one taking consciousness (packaged as “spirit”), the other spacetime, and how this led to physicalism taking root as a world view and becoming the prevailing materialist paradigm. It describes the emergence of a new paradigm that incorporates consciousness and lays out the four relevant descriptors helping to define what this new paradigm will look like. They are: • Only certain aspects of the mind are the result of physiologic processes. • Consciousness is causal, and physical reality is its manifestation. • All consciousnesses, regardless of their physical manifestations, are part of a network of life which they both inform and influence and are informed and influenced by; there is a passage back and forth between the individual and the collective. • Some aspects of consciousness are not limited by the time/space continuum and do not originate entirely within an organism’s neuroanatomy. "

Ecologia, natura, materialismo

A first part of the essay summarizes the main lines of a recent book by the author: Per un paradigma del corpo: una rifondazione filosofica dell’ecologia, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2019. A paradigm in which body and biology preserve their irreducibility towards culture is maintained, and the “linguistic turn”, which has dominated XXth century’s philosophy, is severely criticized ; accordingly, Merleau-Ponty’s reflection on the concept of nature is considered the most appropriate and up-to-date tool to rethink the ecological question; its consequences in the field of philosophy of technology and of the problem of subject are examined. A second part of the essay, focusing on a meeting between Adorno and Merleau-Ponty which took place in 1961, tries to sketch a materialistic paradigm for ecology, softening Merleau-Ponty’s final proximity to Heidegger.

Keywords as method

This short essay seeks to restore the keywords approach initiated by Williams to a more central place within the cultural materialist paradigm he also developed. Combining Williams’ cultural materialist account of language with the practical orientation of Keywords, it sketches a way of developing the keywords approach as a method of sociocultural analysis. Drawing on some practical examples, it offers ‘keywords-as-method’ as a means of carrying out a historicist and materialist study of the relationship of linguistic to social change, that goes beyond the simple glossary of terms approach that has thus far limited the explanatory and critical potential of Keywords. In so doing, I hope to contribute to the renewal of Williamsian scholarship that has coincided with the centenary of his birth.

The concept of plasticity in the philosophy of Catherine Malabou: take, give and break the form

The object of this research is the concept of plasticity. The subject of this research concept of plasticity proposed by the French philosopher Catherine Malabou. The author examines the genealogy of the concept of plasticity, which includes the developments of the ancient philosophers Goethe and Hegel. Catherine Malabou based her system on the Hegelian conceptualization of plasticity. The author reviews several types of plasticity offered by Catherine Malabou, among which is neuroplasticity and destructive plasticity. Special attention is given to discrepancies between the concepts of “plasticity” and “flexibility”. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the analysis of novel approaches towards understanding the interrelation between philosophy and biology in the area of representations on human. The author notes that plasticity is the modern materialistic paradigm for understanding human from the perspective of the currently relevant philosophical direction of posthumanism. The following conclusions are formulated: plasticity indicates that nothing in the world can be set once and for all; plasticity has considerable hermeneutical potential due to its own flexibility and variability; plasticity is a productive way of posthumanistic representations on human due to its anti-essentialist orientation.

Extremist behavior as an “act of communication”: A theological and psychological analysis

This article attempts to interpret extremist behavior in the adolescent and youth environment as a kind of “act of distorted communication”. At the same time, if such interpretations have been made within the materialistic (in particular, psychoanalytic) paradigm for a long time, then the interpretation of the factors of extremist activity at the junction of Orthodox theology and deep psychology is quite an innovative approach. This approach allows us to correctly “decipher” the message “embedded” in extremist behavior, and directly address the originally natural and healthy needs of the soul distorted by this conduct. The article notes that theology, especially practical theology, is able to actualize the spiritual needs sometimes hidden in the subconscious of young people. As shown by the research conducted by the team of the Laboratory of Religious Studies of the Herzen State Pedagogical University, this is a result of young people conducting a persistent spiritual search at the unconscious level. This search is largely conducted in a dimension that relates to one of the commandments given to people by Jesus Christ: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself ”. The article also concludes that the prevention of extremist behavior in the modern Russian youth environment must necessarily include an appeal to the immanent domestic culture of the need for participation and transcendence, as opposed to both the cult of consumption and destructive ideologies of an extremist nature.

Creative practice for sustainability: A new materialist perspective on artivist production of eco-sensitive knowledges1

Situated within a new materialist paradigm, this article looks at instances of educational nature-creative artivism for sustainability. Connecting art and activism, artivism mobilizes creative means to embrace political or social intervention. Underlining the importance of practices, and employing the concept of creative practice, we point out that a detailed inspection of the processes involved in artistic production sheds a different light on the nature of all knowledge-generating practices, letting us engage more thoroughly with the ‘how-question’ of producing knowledge. Focusing on two geoartistic/geopoetic educational initiatives, we argue that the eco-sensitive creation of artivists may serve as an example of what forms the entanglements of art and activism could take in the context of educational projects aimed at mobilizing thorough reflections of audiences. This may encourage the development of a more resilient environment based on horizontal relations of different forms of matter.

Paradigm-Specific Risk Conceptions, Patient Safety, and the Regulation of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practitioners: The Case of Homeopathy in Ontario, Canada.

While the principle of risk reduction increasingly underpins health professional regulatory models across the globe, concepts of risk are neither static nor epistemically neutral. Conventional biomedicine's risk conceptions are substantially rooted in principles of scientific materialism, while many traditional and complementary medicine systems have vitalistic epistemic underpinnings that give rise to distinctive safety considerations. The statutory regulation of traditional and complementary medicine providers has been identified by the World Health Organization as a strategy for enhancing public safety. However, complex risk-related questions arise at the intersection of medical epistemologies whose concepts are at best overlapping, and at worst incommensurable. Elaborating a theoretical concept of “paradigm-specific risk conceptions,” this work employs Bacchi's poststructural mode of policy analysis (“What's the Problem Represented to Be?”) to critically analyze risk discourse in government documents pertaining to the 2015 statutory regulation of homeopathic practitioners in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario government's pre-regulatory risk assessments of the homeopathic occupation discursively emphasized cultural safety principles alongside homeopathy-specific risk conceptions. These paradigm-specific concepts, rooted in homeopathy's epistemic vitalism, extend beyond materialist constructions of adverse events and clinical omission to address potential harms from homeopathic “proving symptoms”, “aggravation,” and “disruption,” all considered implausible from a biomedical standpoint. Although the province's new homeopathy regulator subsequently articulated safety competencies addressing such vitalistic concepts, the tangible risk management strategies ultimately mandated for practitioners exclusively addressed risks consistent with the scientific materialist paradigm. This policy approach substantially echoes the implicit biomedical underpinnings evident in Ontario's broader legislative context, but leaves a significant policy gap regarding the primary safety considerations originally articulated as substantiation for homeopathy's statutory regulation. To optimally preserve patient safety and full informed consent, regulators of traditional and complementary medicine professionals should favor a pragmatic, epistemically-inclusive approach that actively negotiates paradigm-specific risk conceptions from both biomedicine and the occupation under governance.

Are we living in a time- and spaceless world - The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradoxon

On the basis of experimental data from physical experiments, one must conclude that we live in two worlds at the same time. One is a world of time- and spacelessness, which emerges from the work of physicists and therefore must be accepted as a true reality. On the other hand, we all live at the same moment in a world of time and space. The explanation one can give is that this world which we live in must be an illusion. One can imagine that this illusionary world is projected from a mind conglomerate, which has separated from the original mind all-unity state, many millions of years ago. It is obvious that such a new worldview, containing two worlds and an illusionary world, is very challenging to man's mind. The present prevailing materialistic paradigm is, as one can imagine, in complete contrast with a paradigm of two worlds. Therefore, as these paradigms are incommensurable, the present materialistic paradigm can no longer be sustained as it not based on scientific findings and is therefore detrimental to the existence of society. However, it is obvious that it will take many years before the new paradigm, which is a holistic and spiritual one, is accepted by society.

Sains Modern dan Urgensi Sentralitas Nilai Transenden dalam Pengembangan Ilmu Pengetahuan

Originally the Western sciences and civilization rooted in Oriental traditions. Nevertheless, Western renaissance, the Scientific Revolution has indicated a contrary paradigm in the sciences of nature. A new and alien paradigm which is totally different in its perspective and Weltanschauung from the sciences of the great Oriental traditions. The West arose with the materialistic paradigm resulted in the secularization of the cosmos. It was regarded as the beginning of the Enlightenment dissolved Dark Age scientific stagnation.
 Modern people have been hollowed, isolated from others by individualism then self-separated from God by egocentrism. Western objectivity negated transcendental aspects; thus, non-observable means no exist. Metaphysics, Cosmology, Epistemology, Psychology, and Ethics are not elaborated anymore to convince the Real. Such a paradigm would put worldly benefits before humanity for the sake of growth and progress. These profane sciences result in radical separation of philosophy and theology, knowledge and faith, religion and science, as well as theology and all aspects of human life.
 Desecration of contemporary sciences is the product of modern worldview which negated transcendent values ​​in scientific activity. This desecration became the turning point of traditionalist thinkers’ criticism with a theistic worldview to restore spiritual values ​​in sciences. Thus, worldview could produce tawhid based scientific epistemology creates unity between religion and science, knowledge and values ​​as well as the material and metaphysical then makes the humanity before the science

Between Metaphysics and Physiology: Lewes’s Facultative Action and Eliot’s Realism of Failure

Abstract This article positions George Henry Lewes and George Eliot within nineteenth-century psychology’s methodological shift. In the Victorian period, the study of mind was transitioning from metaphysical philosophy’s subjective introspection to experimental psychology’s objective analysis. Both philosophers and psychologists attempted to theorize human agency and volition within a materialist paradigm, searching for a midpoint between free will and mechanistic determinism. In Problems of Life and Mind, Lewes posits his theory of “facultative action,” his physiological explanation for a human being’s limited range of agency and choice, which are conditioned by experience, within an otherwise determined world. Eliot takes this theory, gives it a moral urgency, and applies it to human interaction, most evident in the climax of Middlemarch. Complicating the familiar reading of Dorothea and Rosamond’s final encounter as the most mature moment of sympathetic connection in Eliot’s work, this article demonstrates how their encounter unfolds as a moment of misreading, rather than connection. Eliot’s late realism reveals how facultative action allows human beings to interpret connections with others, despite the inevitable failure to surpass the physiological limitations of embodied experience.