Page 42 - The Secrets of the DNA

THE THEORY OF INFORMATION

AND THE END OF

MATERIALISM

he materialist philosophy lies at the basis of the theory of evolution.
Materialism rests on the supposition that everything that exists is mat-
T ter. According to this philosophy, matter has existed since eternity, will
continue to exist forever, and there is nothing but matter. In order to provide
support for their claim, materialists use a logic called "re d u c t i o n i s m " .
Reductionism is the idea that things which are not observable like matter can
also be explained by material causes.
To explain this, let us give the example of human mind. As evident, human
mind is not something "touched by the hand, and seen with the eye". Moreover,
there is no "center of mind" in the human brain. This situation, unavoidably
leads us to the conclusion that mind is a concept beyond matter. Therefore, the
being we call "I", who thinks, loves, gets nervous, worries, takes pleasure or
feels pain is not a material being such as a sofa, a table or a stone.
Materialists, however, claim that mind is "reductional to matter". According
to the materialist claim, our thinking, loving, worrying and all our mental activ-
ities are nothing but some chemical reactions taking place between the atoms in
our brain. Our loving someone is a chemical reaction in some cells in our brain,
and our feeling fear because of a certain event is another chemical reaction.
Famous materialist philosopher Karl Vogt stressed this logic with his famous
words "Just as liver secretes gall, so do our brains secrete thought" . Gall, how-
ever, is matter, whereas there is no evidence that thought is matter.
Reductionism is a logical deduction. However, a logical deduction can be
based on sound grounds as well as shaky grounds. For this reason, the question
that stands forth for us for the time being is this: What would be the result if

THE SECRETS OF DNA
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