Why Athiestic Materialism is Psychotic

A Tract Book Essay

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif

© Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

Some people, wrongly, think that atheistic materialism is a normative position to

take. I, on the other hand, argue that atheistic materialism is not normative, but instead,

is psychotic. Recall, that psychosis is defined as that which is out of touch with reality.

Let us start by looking at the basic reality premises of atheistic materialism. First,

atheistic materialism denies the existence of God. Second, atheistic materialism asserts

that the ultimate nature of reality is that which is material, or put another way, that which

is based upon the idea that atoms are the ultimate reality of the universe. Finally,

atheistic materialism asserts that Logical Positivism is a normative philosophy of

knowledge or epistemology.

First, let us consider the notion of God. Thomas Aquinas has presented a proof

that God in fact exists. The argument is that our sense experience and rigorous inferences

therefrom, show us that causality exists. If I roll a ball into another ball, then I am the

efficient cause of that movement and that collision. Once we understand that causality

exists, it is apparent that for every effect, there must have been a prior cause. But, if this

is true, then this leads to an infinite regress of causes which either suggests the existence

of God in reality, or alternatively, that an infinite regress is irrational. Since the idea of

an infinite regress of causes is irrational, we must assume that there is a rational First
Cause, which is itself an Uncaused Cause. The argument is the God is the First Cause

which is an Uncaused Cause.

The second position of atheistic materialism, is that the ultimate nature of reality

is material atomism. In fact, contemporary science has proven that subatomic particles

exist, and that one subatomic particle is the Quantum Particle, which participates in the

Quantum Field, outside of space-time. Thus, it is clear that atheistic materialism is

wrong in asserting that the real nature of reality is atomistic materialism.

Finally, atheistic materialism asserts that logical positivism is a normative

epistemology or philosophy of knowledge. In fact logical positivism has been totally

discredited. Logical positivism asserts that we know reality best through immediate

sense experience and rigorous logical inferences based upon that sense experience.

However, this assumes that sense experience is universally reliable in disclosing reality.

If sense experience is not universally reliable, then there is no basis for logical positivism.

In fact, sense experience is not universally reliable in disclosing reality. Science

is full of “anomalies” which cannot be explained by sense experience alone. For

example, if I take a straight wooden dowel (stick) and look down the barrel of the stick

my sense of sight shows the stick to be straight. However, if I take that same wooden

dowel, and place it in a glass walled tank of water, and look at the dowel through the side

of the tank, the dowel appears to be crooked to my sight, sense impression. So, my sight

sense impression has given me two completely contradictory views of reality, one with

straight dowel, one with crooked dowel. Logical positivism is at a loss to explain how

this could be.

 If we transcend mere sense experience, and proceed to the levels of understanding

and judgment/reflection, it is apparent that the crooked dowel appears to be crooked

because of an optical illusion created by the water which acts like a prism. Because the

water bends light in a particular way, the dowel appears to crooked, even though it is

really straight. Thus, logical positivism is rejected as a false philosophy in favor of

Lonerganian Critical Realism, or Fejfar’s Critical Thomism.

Thus, in summing up, on all three counts discussed earlier, it can be seen that

atheistic materialism is a false philosophy, and, from that point of view, is psychotic.