Is Anything Real That Cannot Be Measured? — Ali Shukri Amin
First published on my writing site: www.aliamin.info/2026/01/is-anything-real-that-cannot-be-measured/
By Ali Shukri Amin. I first wrote this as a comment on r/PhilosophyMemes, in the thread “What reason is there to consider or discuss anything that cant be measured?”, copied here as written.
- This is not true
- This is not an accurate way to phrase it
- Being an epistemological materialist or an empiricist is not the only alternative to solipsism. It’s the least philosophically robust position. There are 2000 years of thinkers dealing with these issues and for most of that time materialism was not taken seriously. Nowadays, people that don’t understand philosophy take materialism for granted because the West was captured by Hegelian dialectic (allowing both main wings of Western philosophy, analytic & Continental, to stop doing epistemology, ontology, and metaphysics).
The problem is this: since people assume Hegel & his derivatives solved philosophy, they also assume their naieve materialism is superior to everything else. That’s despite the fact that Post-Hegelian thought is not naieve materialism.
Simply put, the materialism or pop empiricism worldview is unjustifiable and is no better than solipsism. That doesn’t mean other worldviews are unjustifiable and no better than solipsism. In fact, I would argue most historical approaches have some value over outright solipsism. Just not materialism.
Anyone that holds firmly to materialism should also accept nihilistic moral subjectivity and the possibility of solipsism, in which case their worldview cannot lay any claim to truth, morality, or superiority over any other worldview. The most comic book villain evil plot has the same ethical weight as a masterialistic approach – since ethics are not real and perhaps neither is reality.
Posted January 8, 2026. Read it on Reddit.
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