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This was first voiced by Vulgar materialists in the middle of the XIX century. Karl Vogt wrote in his article” Physiological Messages”:: “The brain secretes thought like the liver secretes bile.” Then his colleagues asked him to explain, and he made a correction: “I only mean that the brain is also necessary for thinking, like the liver for bile formation.” The thesis of the materiality of thought has been current among materialists ever since. It was actively developed by I. M. Sechenov in “Brain Reflexes”. Further, apparently, there is no point in talking about novelty – for physiologists this has become a proven case. However, the philosophers still argued. The global contribution was made by V. I. Lenin, one of the most influential thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He participated quite a lot in arguments on this topic, beautifully proving that everything depends on matter, and thought is no exception. And he also (unwittingly) provided this thesis with a cool “extension”, due to the repeated citation by all Soviet scientists of the ideas of dialectical materialism. And there it is written: consciousness is considered a property of a highly organized, social form of matter movement, a reflection of the objective world in the brain.
The idea of the materiality of thought, i.e. the causal relationship between thinking/fantasizing/imagining and an event, is rooted in magic. Magic offers similar methods, consisting of desire and ritual, which must necessarily lead to a result.
This idea is very popular and quite tenacious, despite its absurdity and unscientific nature. There are still people who admit the need to “visualize” themselves as a millionaire, allegedly this will inevitably lead to wealth. Many people still think that it is possible to influence themselves, their lives, others, etc. by the power of thought. This gives rise to other beliefs (faith in yoga, meditation, positive attitude, etc.), and also makes a person vulnerable to destructive sects, pseudoscientific ideas and dangerous practices…
I recommend the answer of one of our best authors-Maria Terenteva (and you can read her other answers).
Is there any scientific evidence that thoughts are material? Which scientists did this?
And more:
Are thoughts material? How does it work?
Is the theory about the materialization of thought true, or is it just another trend in popular psychology?
Why is the idea that thought is material so popular nowadays, and is it worth believing it?
is it true that our thoughts materialize over time ?
Because of the very strong desire of people that it should be so.
Our world is very unreliable. There is no guarantee that no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try, you will definitely get exactly what you want.
Accidents, unaccounted factors, just a lack of resources – but you never know what will ruin brilliant plans and deprive you of the desired success. And a person cannot fail to understand this, and cannot but fear it.
But when this idea is clearly accepted, it is disincentive: why try, if everything can still die overnight? The feeling of traveling on a tightrope over a precipice (and we all live this way, and even the thickness of the rope is generally about the same) is not the best background for hard work.
The human mind seeks support and finds it. For example, it may seem to him that the thoughts that accompany him all his life cannot but be something more than just electric currents in the brain. That undoubtedly, such an important thing for himself cannot but be important for the rest of the world, too, that it is on the thought that you can rely in the horror and unpredictability of life – after all, thoughts always help out in solving problems in the mind, so everything passes in the head easily and smoothly.
“…The ideal is nothing but the material, transplanted into the human head and transformed in it” (K. Marx, F. Engels, vol. 23, p. 21)
That is, the original aphorism is incorrect in essence – it is not the thought that is material, but the source (prototype, primary basis) of this thought, or the results of the impact of this thought, but not the thought itself – it is fundamentally ideal, and not material.