Materialism

Lore & Background

Materialism is a monistic philosophical doctrine holding that matter is the fundamental substance of nature, from which all things—including mind and consciousness—arise through material interactions and depend on physical processes such as those of the human brain and nervous system. It contrasts with monistic idealism, which treats consciousness as fundamental, and is related to naturalism, the view that only natural laws and forces operate, and to physicalism, which extends materialism by including forms of physicality beyond ordinary matter, such as spacetime, energy, forces, and exotic matter; some philosophers use the terms interchangeably. Alternative or opposing views include idealism, pluralism, dualism, solipsism, panpsychism, and other forms of monism. In its extreme form, materialism asserts that the real world consists solely of material things, with space and time included if they are realities rather than mere systems of relations. It belongs to monist ontology, differing from dualism or pluralism, and contrasts with phenomenalism, vitalism, and dual-aspect monism. Historically, materialism developed independently in several Eurasian regions during the Axial Age (c. 800–200 BC). In ancient India, it appeared around 600 BC with Ajita Kesakambali, Payasi, Kanada, and the Cārvāka school; Kanada was an early proponent of atomism, though the Nyaya–Vaisesika school’s atomism included proofs of God and non-material consciousness. Ancient Greek atomists like Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus prefigured later materialists, with Lucretius’s poem *De Rerum Natura* reflecting their mechanistic philosophy that all that exists is matter and void, and that all phenomena result from motions and conglomerations of atoms. Epicureanism refined this picture, holding that everything, including mind, consists solely of atoms moving in the void, with Epicurus postulating the clinamen—a slight lateral deviation—to explain collisions without supernatural causes. In the early Common Era, Chinese thinker Wang Chong is considered a materialist, and later Indian materialist Jayaraashi Bhatta refuted Nyāya Sūtra epistemology in his work *Tattvopaplavasimha*. The term “materialism” appeared in English near the end of the 17th century, while “physicalism” was introduced in the 1930s by Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap as a linguistic thesis. Modern philosophical materialists

Reader's Guide

Materialism's significance lies in its foundational role in modern science and philosophy, asserting that all phenomena, including consciousness, are explicable through material interactions and physical processes. It has shaped debates on reductionism, with non-reductive materialism rejecting the notion that all real objects must be explicable in terms of basic material constituents. The term 'physicalism' emerged in the 1930s with the Vienna Circle to accommodate entities like forces and spacetime that are not matter in the classical sense. Materialism's legacy includes its influence on historical materialism, which grounds social change in modes of production and exchange, and its ongoing contrast with idealism, dualism, and other ontologies. The article notes that some philosophers, such as Mary Midgley, find the concept of 'matter' elusive and poorly defined.

Did You Know?

• The term 'materialism' appears in English toward the end of the 17th century, while 'physicalism' was introduced in the 1930s by Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap.
• Ancient Greek atomists like Democritus and Epicurus did not espouse a monist ontology, instead separating matter and space as different kinds of being.
• Non-reductive materialism, held by Jerry Fodor, rejects reductionism and allows for real objects not explicable in terms of basic material constituents.