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You are absolutely right that it has to do with metaphysics

Yes, that's true, but we're going a bit off-road. I started this sub-thread by stating that Penrose was a materialist regarding the issue of consciousness, which is firmly a question of (Penrose's) epistemology.

My epistemology is firmly materialist, but my metaphysics is not. I believe that there exist an infinitude of objective and universal Truths, which all of existence (and all mathematical systems) is inexorably bound to satisfy, and out of which all material is constructed. The sum of these inviolable Truths is what I have in mind when I talk of God. My view is rigidly Deistic, because for God to intervene in the universe would violate the laws of Nature, and thereby violate the Truth, clearly an impossibility.

(Note, however, that these Truths are not in themselves physical, so I'm still not clear on the "physical but not material" concept.)

The term materialism in taken to mean the belief that everything that actually exists is material, or physical.

Whereas the term physicalism means the belief that everything that actually exists is physical, or material. ;^)

From all appearances, I think your correspondents have long since departed any significant dissection of materialism and entered the meaningless machinations of the Twilight Zone.

I suggest you give it up and let them live with their preconceptions (and invincible ignorance) about the "spiritual" nature of consciousness.

Thank you so very much for your post and especially for stating your views! IMHO, such clarity avoids misunderstanding and is particularly helpful on volatile crevo threads.

The terms materialism and physicalism are taken on these threads according to their respective meaning in philosophy. From the Dictionary of Philosophy of the Mind. (emphasis mine)

materialism - The view that everything that actually exists is material, or physical. Many philosophers and scientists now use the terms `material' and `physical' interchangeably (for a version of physicalism distinct from materialism, see physicalism). Characterized in this way, as a doctrine about what exists, materialism is an ontological, or a metaphysical, view; it is not just an epistemological view about how we know or just a semantic view about the meaning of terms.

physicalism - The view that everything that is real is, in some sense, really physical.

For lurkers, epistemology is the study of our method of acquiring knowledge.

Unless a poster specifies that they are a materialist (epistemologically speaking), the term materialist will most assuredly be taken ontologically or metaphysically --- and not just epistemologically, and thus may quite likely lead to accusations of atheism, ill will, etc.

Conversely, if a poster specifies that he is a physicalist, no ill will can follow. The physicalist has not presumed that the material world is all that there is, but he has not ruled it out either.

Dealing with the perceptions of the terms that we use can be mighty annoying, but I think it is worth the effort. I'm trying to follow that rule of thumb by being careful to to use the full term theory of evolution when appropriate