Five dangers of materialism

Amidst the boon of medical, scientific, and technological progress, materialism has gained increasing explanatory power in deciphering the enigma of mind. But with the proliferation and acceptance of cognitive science, psychic reality has been largely reduced to a physical ontology. In this article, the author explores the ground, scope, and limits to the materialist framework and shows that although biological-neurochemical physiology is a necessary condition for mental functioning, it is far from a sufficient condition to adequately explain the human being. This situation becomes especially significant when one examines the issues of selfhood, freedom, personal autonomy, and the phenomenal quality of the lived experience.