Defending Materialism

The most fitting definition for materialism that I could find was from "Wikitionary"

Materialism: The philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical (also called physicalism)."

The term "materialism" has gained a bad wrap for being close-minded and short sighted over the years but many including C. S. Lewis.  However I am here to reclaim materialism (or physicalism if materialism is no longer savable from the endless slander it has received).

The basic argument against materialism goes something like this "we don't know everything, so it is ridiculous to assume that everything that exists is material." The most basic flaw in this argument is that "existence" is a property of matter, so it apply it to anything else that is "immaterial" or "spiritual" doesn't make any sense.  So by definition anything that is not material doesn't exist.  At least not in anyway that we can possibly understand or talk about.

The point is that everything that we know and understand is based on the material world and how it functions. Even logic it's self is based on the functioning of the material world (that is what makes logic relevant and universal). And as a subject of logic, even true and false are concepts that we derived from the material world.

To say "It is true that an immaterial being (god) exists" means nothing. Its just a bunch of words thrown together.  If god is not made of matter then what sense does it make to apply concepts that are derived from the functions of matter such as "true" and "false" to him?  These concepts are only relevant to the material world.

No one knows what a "square-circle" is because it has no relevance to the world around us.  Its just two words thrown together.  You cannot say that a square-circle exists because it is contrary to the functions of matter, and the concept of existence is a function of matter. The two are not compatible.

There is no truth value or truth statements that can be applied to anything "outside of reality" or the "immaterial world".  All knowledge, language, and concepts we can possibly understand or talk about are within the realm of matter and its functions. Anything else is meaningless.