Re: idealism vs materialism

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

Dan MacIsaac wrote in part:
> If I'm allowed mass-energy
> equivalence, then I'm comfortable being called a materialist, though I
> likely don't understand all of the philosophy behind that term.

I'm not comfortable with that.  Please consider
 -- angular momentum
 -- charge
 -- etc.
which are not equivalent to mass/energy, but are (according
to my philosophy) just as real.

http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/physics/reality-reductionism.htm

==============

In general I find it best to avoid signing up under any
labels.
 -- Am I a materialist?  No.
 -- Am I an idealist (in the philosophical sense)? No.
 -- Am I a utilitarian (in the philosophical sense)? No.
 -- Am I a Bayesian?  No.
 -- Am I a Keynesian?  No.
 -- Am I a Newtonian?  No.  A Newtonian is a kind of telescope.

I agree with some of the things Newton said.  I disagree with
others.  The same goes for all other schools of thought.