ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the borderline between what can be proved and what appears to be plausible. Scientists should presumably not wander too far into the wild country people are entering, and hence people shall not linger within its boundaries. The chapter suggests that the quantum-mechanical limitations that bear on the concept of physical objects precisely amount to nothing less than a rejection of both objectivisms as fundamental ontologies. The use of the expression "scientific materialism" should be tolerated only with reference to a set of methods or to an attitude of mind. The modern version of materialism, namely, dialectical materialism, accepts more and more the idea that consciousness has some remarkable "specificity" of its own. As a matter of fact, when used by anybody except perhaps experienced dialecticians, the word "materialism" suggests a definite ontology that is a special case of micro- or macro-objectivism.
