Editing Materialism (section)

===Materialism as methodology===
Some critics object to materialism as part of an overly skeptical, narrow or [[reductionism|reductivist]] approach to theorizing, rather than to the ontological claim that matter is the only substance. [[particle physics|Particle physicist]] and Anglican [[theology|theologian]] [[John Polkinghorne]] objects to what he calls ''promissory materialism''—claims that materialistic science will eventually succeed in explaining phenomena it has not so far been able to explain.<ref>However, critics of materialism are equally guilty of prognosticating that it will ''never'' be able to explain certain phenomena. "Over a hundred years ago [[William James]] saw clearly that science would never resolve the [[mind-body dichotomy|mind-body problem]]." [http://www.designinference.com/documents/1999.10.spiritual_machines.htm ''Are We Spiritual Machines?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111064335/http://www.designinference.com/documents/1999.10.spiritual_machines.htm |date=11 November 2013 }} Dembski, W.</ref> Polkinghorne prefers "[[dual-aspect monism]]" to materialism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crosscurrents.org/polkinghorne.htm |title=Interview with John Polkinghorne |publisher=Crosscurrents.org |access-date=2013-06-24}}</ref>

Some scientific materialists have been criticized for failing to provide clear definitions of matter, leaving the term ''materialism'' without any definite meaning. [[Noam Chomsky]] states that since the concept of matter may be affected by new scientific discoveries, as has happened in the past, scientific materialists are being dogmatic in assuming the opposite.<ref name="Chomsky, Noam 2000" />