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Why do critics argue that a completely materialist theory of human nature may be incomplete?

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Fragment of a Roman fresco showing Socrates seated and draped in a white robe, with Greek text above, on a red background with visible cracks. — Philosophical anthropology Socrates, Roman fresco, 1st century bce; in the Ephesus Museum, Selçuk, Turkey.

Critics argue that a purely materialist theory of human nature may be incomplete because it struggles to account for several fundamental aspects of human experience that do not easily align with a strictly physicalist framework.123

Key challenges include:

Intentionality: Philosophers like Franz Brentano argued that mental states possess "intentionality"—the ability to point toward objects or have "content"—which they contend purely physical entities cannot possess.1
Consciousness: There is a persistent difficulty in explaining how a material object like the brain gives rise to subjective mental experiences. Critics argue that scientific descriptions of physical processes fail to capture what these experiences are actually like for the individual.23
Human Intuition: Traditional conceptions of human nature often rely on "naive realism," or the intuitive sense that we perceive the world directly. Because this does not fit into a scientific worldview that requires reduction to physical processes, materialists often dismiss these intuitions, whereas other philosophers argue they should be respected and incorporated into a broader understanding of human life.4
Complexity of Intelligence: Some theorists, such as Noam Chomsky, have argued that the brain’s capacity for language and intelligence suggests it is fundamentally unlike the mechanical models often proposed by materialists.3