Materialism never resolves but only disguises nature dualism by a truncated reversal
Evidence
Reason/nature dualism still casts its shadow across the projects of modernity. The greatest of its philosophical and scientific projects has been materialist reductionism, especially in the form of the discrediting of the mental and intentional, and the affirmation, in its place, of the concept of the material sphere as delivered by dualism. This project does not involve resolving these dualisms, but rather involves disguising them through a form of truncated reversal. Rationalism is rejected in favour of materialism, physicalism, or their counterpart in logic, extensionalism, and in favour of other reductionist positions which resolve the dilemma presented by human/nature dualism through conceiving not only nature and animals but also the human itself in the mechanistic and reductionistic terms inspired by Cartesianism. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 452
Categorization
- XREF: Counters the common assumption that materialism is the natural answer to rationalism; useful against Merchant and reductivist science critique across all four courses. — connects to: Mechanistic reduction extends nature’s instrumentalisation to humans rather than ending dualism — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 458; Reductionism grounds itself in a body emptied of all mindlike attributes — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 454; Reversing valuation traps liberation theory inside the dualistic structure it flees — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 39 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Spiritualism and materialism are two halves of one Cartesian dualism, not opposites
#expands(0.90) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 293 - Feuerbach’s materialism remains dualist despite claiming to be materialist
#exemplifies(0.85) - Holism and dualism should be fluid complements, not rigid opposites
#corroborates(0.75)