Philosophy Now Forum

My name is surreptitious57 and I am interested in philosophy and physics and history. I believe in the Scientific Method and the
Golden Rule and open minds. I also believe in absolute free speech too. I think nothing should get respect unless or until it has
been completely taken to pieces so one can determine its validity. Ideas get no respect but individuals do including those who
hold ideas that one does not one self. I am also a physicalist / materialist and do not believe the Universe has any meaning so
neither does anything in it. Ground apes have a very high opinion of themselves as pertains to the grand scheme of things but
we are nothing more than complex bacteria the end of the day. Death is nothing to be afraid of. For you were not afraid of it
before you were born so why be afraid of it after you die ? Anyway that is a bit about me and my modus operandi and all that

If it´s unreasonable to be afraid of death why are so many people naturally afraid of it ?

Do you have a scientific explanation for this unreasonable feeling ?

Welcome surreptitious57. Call me old-fashioned, but I like people to use their real names in these things. You appear very sure-footed in relation to your beliefs on materialism (much of which I subscribe to), but I feel lurking behind an alias is a pity, and somewhat ironic given this is a philosophy forum where things like the nature of being and reality are called into question on an ongoing basis.

Just a reply on your comment on human beings as complex bacteria. I think even hardcore atheist evolutionary biologists would disagree with that assertion on the grounds that the powers of reason, emotion and reflection lifts us out of that bracket. I think you can still maintain the materialist/non-teleogical argument and yet not reduce us to the order of the simple-celled organism. But perhaps this is a discussion for elsewhere in the forum.

Good to make your acquaintance nonetheless!

Although I label myself as a materialist / physicalist I do not do so from an absolutely rigid perspective. So if it could be proved that
there was some thing that existed beyond the physical then I would accept it just like I accept the existence of physical phenomena
that also exist. But less that occurs then I shall remain a materialist / physicalist because for me that is the natural default position

I take the view that all positions are in theory subject to eternal review which is to say that a position can be disproven at any time and
so it is unwise to make absolute statements on anything. Though this does not apply to mathematical axioms which have positively been
proven or non falsifiable data points that have also been proven. Only untested hypotheses cannot be proven although they may be true