从唯物主义到物理主义

From Materialism to Physicalism

唯物主义主张世界的本源是物质,或者说,世间的一切归根到底是物质的。在人类思想史上,唯物主义具有悠久的传统,在近代更是成为了马克思主义的理论基石,被认为是与近代科学最为契合的世界观。然而,现代物理学的发展使得传统唯物主义思想的一些基本要素和表述形式显得落伍和简陋,当代唯物主义者倾向于采用"物理主义"来替换"唯物主义"。在过去的半个多世纪,物理主义已成为当今占据统治地位的科学世界观。本文探讨导致物理主义兴起的一些哲学思想方面的原因,并分析物理主义能否有助于克服传统的唯物主义世界观所面临的困难和挑战。

Materialism, as an ontological doctrine traditionally opposed by idealism and substance dualism, holds that everything in the world is material. Since the mid- 20th century, physicalism, widely taken as a successor of materialism, has become the dominant worldview in contemporary academic philosophy. Physicalism maintains that everything is physical, and the terms 'physicalism' and 'materialism' are generally regarded as interchangeable. This article explores the intellectual causes that make 'physicalism' more favorable than 'materialism' in light of contemporary physics as well as biology and cognitive science, and analyses the implications of this conceptual change.