Q&A: Materialism
Materialism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask: we see that there are direct physical effects on the psyche,
for example alcohol or antidepressant pills. Isn't that an indication that we are made up only of matter?
Thank you very much in advance.
Answer
There are effects that human beings have on plants, so are human beings plants?
Discussion on Answer
That is blatant begging the question. If the body is the person, then there is no question. But the discussion is precisely about that itself: whether the body is the person, or whether there is something more in him. So it is exactly like the plants.
The wording of your answer supports Omer. "There is something more in him," you wrote. *More* something. You are acknowledging that the matter the questioner is talking about is part of the human being. Are the plants we affect part of us?
The answer is strange. Plants are entities independent of human beings. The matter the questioner is talking about is part of him, at least during his lifetime, and takes part in his functioning. So the fact that this matter affects the psyche does open the door to his question, whereas plants affecting human beings does not.