View source for Materialism

''Materialists'' (film)|other uses of the term materialism|Materialism (disambiguation)}}

In [[philosophy]] and [[metaphysics]], '''materialism''' is a form of [[monism]] holding that [[matter]] is the fundamental [[Substance theory|substance]] of [[nature]], so that all things, including [[mind]] and [[consciousness]], arise from material interactions and depend on physical processes, including those of the [[human brain]] and [[nervous system]]. It contrasts with monistic [[idealism]], which treats consciousness as fundamental, and is related to [[Naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]], the view that only [[Scientific law|natural laws]] and forces operate in the [[universe]], and to [[physicalism]], the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Physicalism extends materialism by including forms of physicality beyond ordinary matter (e.g. [[spacetime]], energy, forces, [[exotic matter]]), and some use the terms interchangeably.

Alternative or opposing views to materialism or physicalism include idealism, [[pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]], [[mind–body dualism|dualism]], [[solipsism]], [[panpsychism]], and other forms of [[monism]].

==Overview==
Materialism is the philosophical doctrine that matter has a primary position in the nature of the world, with mind or consciousness emerging as a secondary, dependent reality or not existing at all.{{sfn|Campbell|2006|p=5}} In its extreme form, materialism asserts that the real world consists of only material things, with the important qualification that [[space and time]] must also be included if these are realities rather than mere systems of relations.{{sfn|Campbell|2006|p=5}} Materialism belongs to the class of [[monist]] [[ontology]], and is thus different from ontological theories based on [[mind–body dualism|dualism]] or [[pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]]. For singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism is in contrast to [[idealism]], [[neutral monism]], and [[spiritualism (philosophy)|spiritualism]]. It can also contrast with [[phenomenalism]], [[vitalism]], and [[dual-aspect monism]]. It can be linked to the concept of [[determinism]], as espoused by [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] thinkers.<ref>Idoko, Barnabas Obiora. [https://journals.ezenwaohaetorc.org/index.php/TIJAH/article/view/2649 "A CRITICAL EPOCHAL REVIEW OF PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALISM"]. ''Trinitarian: International Journal of Arts and Humanities''. 2023-12-14.</ref>

In contemporary philosophy, the terms "materialism" and "physicalism" are often treated as interchangeable, though they have distinct histories.{{sfn|Stoljar|2021}} "Materialism" appears in English toward the end of the 17th century, while "physicalism" was introduced in the 1930s by [[Otto Neurath]] and [[Rudolf Carnap]] of the [[Vienna Circle]] as a linguistic thesis arguing for the translatability of all statements into physical language.{{sfn|Stoljar|2021}} One reason to prefer "physicalism" is that physics has revealed entities that are not matter in the classical sense of an inert substance; forces such as gravity are physical but not obviously "material" by the traditional understanding.{{sfn|Stoljar|2021}} Modern philosophical materialists extend the definition to include other scientifically observable entities such as [[energy]], [[force]]s, and the [[spacetime continuum]]; some philosophers, such as [[Mary Midgley]], suggest that the concept of "matter" is elusive and poorly defined.<ref>[[Mary Midgley]] ''The Myths We Live By''.</ref>

===Non-reductive materialism===
<!--'Non-reductive materialism' redirects here-->
Materialism is often associated with [[Reduction (philosophy)|reductionism]], according to which the objects or phenomena individuated at one level of description, if they are genuine, must be explicable in terms of the objects or phenomena at some other level of description—typically, at a more reduced level.

''Non-reductive materialism'' explicitly rejects this notion, taking the material constitution of all particulars to be consistent with the existence of real objects, properties or phenomena not explicable in the terms canonically used for the basic material constituents. [[Jerry Fodor]] held this view, according to which empirical laws and explanations in "special sciences" like psychology or geology are invisible from the perspective of basic physics.<ref>Fodor, Jerry A. 1981. ''RePresentations: Philosophical Essays on the Foundations of Cognitive Science''. Massachusetts: The MIT Press. {{ISBN|9780262060790}}. ([http://mitp-content-server.mit.edu:18180/books/content/sectbyfn?collid=books_pres_0&id=5895&fn=9780262560276_sch_0001.pdf Excerpt of Ch. 1]).</ref>

==History==
''See also: [[History of naturalism]]''

===Early history===

====Before Common Era====
[[File:Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia - Leucippus - Luca Giordano.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leucippus]] (4th century BC), father of [[atomism]] and teacher of [[Democritus]]. Painting by [[Luca Giordano]], c. 1653.]]
Materialism developed, possibly independently, in several geographically separated regions of [[Eurasia]] during what [[Karl Jaspers]] termed the [[Axial Age]] ({{Circa}}&nbsp;800–200&nbsp;BC).

In [[ancient Indian philosophy]], materialism developed around 600&nbsp;BC with the works of [[Ajita Kesakambali]], [[Payasi]], [[Kanada (philosopher)|Kanada]] and the proponents of the [[Cārvāka]] school of philosophy. Kanada became one of the early proponents of [[atomism]]. The [[Nyaya]]–[[Vaisesika]] school (c.&nbsp;600–100&nbsp;BC) developed one of the earliest forms of atomism (although their proofs of God and their positing that consciousness was not material precludes labelling them as materialists). [[Buddhist atomism]] and the [[Jainism|Jaina]] school continued the atomic tradition.<ref>Berryman, Sylvia. [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atomism-ancient/ "Ancient Atomism"]. ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. 2022.</ref>

[[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek]] [[atomists]] like [[Leucippus]], [[Democritus]] and [[Epicurus]] prefigure later materialists. The Latin poem ''[[De Rerum Natura]]'' by [[Lucretius]] (99&nbsp;–&nbsp;c.&nbsp;55&nbsp;BC) reflects the [[mechanism (philosophy)|mechanistic]] philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus. According to this view, all that exists is matter and void, and all phenomena result from different motions and conglomerations of base material particles called ''atoms'' (literally "indivisibles"). ''De Rerum Natura'' provides mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as erosion, evaporation, wind, and sound. Famous principles like "nothing can touch body but body" first appeared in Lucretius's work. Democritus and Epicurus did not espouse a monist ontology, instead espousing the ontological separation of matter and space (i.e. that space is "another kind" of being).June 2019.

[[Epicureanism]] is a philosophy of materialism from [[classical antiquity]] that was a major forerunner of [[modern science]]. Classical atomism predates [[Epicurus]]: 5th‑century BCE thinkers [[Leucippus]] and [[Democritus]] explained all change as the collisions of indivisible atoms moving in the void.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atomism-ancient/ "Ancient Atomism"]. ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.</ref> Epicureanism refined this materialist picture. Epicurus held that everything—including mind—consists solely of atoms moving in the void; to explain how parallel falling atoms could meet, he postulated the ''clinamen'', an extremely slight lateral deviation that initiates collisions without supernatural causes and that need not imply genuine indeterminism.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ "Epicurus (section 4.2: The Swerve and Collisions)"]. ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.</ref><ref>"Epicurus on Freedom". Cambridge University Press.</ref>

====Early Common Era====
[[Wang Chong]] (27&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;100&nbsp;AD) was a Chinese thinker of the early [[Common Era]] said to be a materialist.<ref>{{Google books |id=tAeFipOVx4MC |page=228 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (2006)}}</ref> Later Indian materialist [[Jayaraashi Bhatta]] (6th century) in his work ''Tattvopaplavasimha'' (''The Upsetting of All Principles'') refuted the [[Nyāya Sūtras|Nyāya Sūtra]] [[epistemology]]. The materialistic [[Cārvāka]] philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400; when [[Madhavacharya of Sringeri|Madhavacharya]] compiled ''Sarva-darśana-samgraha'' (''A Digest of All Philosophies'') in the 14th century, he had no Cārvāka (or Lokāyata) text to quote from or refer to.<ref>[http://www.carvaka4india.com/2011/12/history-of-indian-materialism.html ''History of Indian Materialism''], Ramakrishna Bhattacharya</ref>

In early 12th-century [[al-Andalus]], [[Early Islamic philosophy|Arabian philosopher]] [[Ibn Tufail]] ({{a.k.a.}}&nbsp;Abubacer) discussed materialism in his [[philosophical novel]], ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'' (''Philosophus Autodidactus''), while vaguely foreshadowing [[historical materialism]].<ref name="Urvoy">Urvoy, Dominique. 1996. "The Rationality of Everyday Life: The Andalusian Tradition? (Aropos of Hayy's First Experiences)." pp. 38–46 in ''The World of Ibn Tufayl: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān'', edited by [[Lawrence Conrad|L. I. Conrad]]. [[Brill Publishers]], {{ISBN|90-04-09300-1}}.</ref>

====Modern philosophy<!--'Anthropological materialism' and 'German materialism' redirect here-->====
[[File:Lucretius pointing to the casus.jpg|thumb|upright|Atomists proposed that the universe consists of atoms moving in space. ''[[De rerum natura|Of the Nature of Things]]'' by [[Lucretius]], 1682.]]
In France, [[Pierre Gassendi]] (1592–1665)<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/gassendi/ Pierre Gassendi (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)]</ref> represented the materialist tradition in opposition to the attempts of [[René Descartes]] (1596–1650) to provide the [[natural sciences]] with dualist foundations. There followed the materialist and [[atheism|atheist]] ''abbé'' [[Jean Meslier]] (1664–1729), along with the [[French materialism|French materialists]]: [[Julien Offray de La Mettrie]] (1709–1751), [[Denis Diderot]] (1713–1784), [[Étienne Bonnot de Condillac]] (1714–1780), [[Claude Adrien Helvétius]] (1715–1771), German-French [[Baron d'Holbach]] (1723–1789), and other French [[The Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] thinkers.<ref name="Mahan Friedrich 2003 p. 588">Citation needed.</ref>

In England, materialism was developed in the philosophies of [[Francis Bacon]] (1561–1626), [[Thomas Hobbes]] (1588–1679),<ref name=SEP>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes/ Thomas Hobbes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)],</ref> and [[John Locke]] (1632–1704).<ref name="Henry 2012 p. 24">Citation needed.</ref> [[Scottish Enlightenment]] philosopher [[David Hume]] (1711–1776) became one of the most important materialist philosophers in the 18th century.<ref name="Brown Ladyman 2019 p.">Citation needed.</ref>  [[John "Walking" Stewart]] (1747–1822) believed matter has a [[moral]] dimension, which had a major impact on the philosophical poetry of [[William Wordsworth]] (1770–1850).

In [[late modern philosophy]], German atheist [[anthropologist]] [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] signaled a new turn in materialism in his 1841 book ''[[The Essence of Christianity]]'', which presented a [[Humanism|humanist]] account of religion as the outward projection of man's inward nature. Feuerbach introduced '''anthropological materialism''',<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> a version of materialism that views materialist anthropology as the [[universal science]].<ref>[[Axel Honneth]], [[Hans Joas]], ''Social Action and Human Nature'', Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 18.</ref>

Feuerbach's variety of materialism heavily influenced [[Karl Marx]],<ref>Nicholas Churchich, ''Marxism and Alienation'', Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990, p. 57: "Although Marx has rejected Feuerbach's abstract materialism," Lenin says that Feuerbach's views "are consistently materialist," implying that Feuerbach's conception of causality is entirely in line with dialectical materialism."</ref> who in the late 19th century elaborated the concept of [[historical materialism]]—the basis for what Marx and [[Friedrich Engels]] outlined as ''[[scientific socialism]]'':

<blockquote>text=The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, the exchange of things produced, is the basis of all social structure; that in every society that has appeared in history, the manner in which wealth is distributed and society divided into classes or orders is dependent upon what is produced, how it is produced, and how the products are exchanged. From this point of view, the final causes of all social changes and political revolutions are to be sought, not in men's brains, not in men's better insights into eternal truth and justice, but in changes in the modes of production and exchange. They are to be sought, not in the philosophy, but in the economics of each particular epoch.|author=Friedrich Engels|source=''Socialism: Scientific and Utopian'' (1880)</blockquote>

Through his ''[[Dialectics of Nature]]'' (1883), Engels later developed a "materialist dialectic" [[philosophy of nature]], a worldview that [[Georgi Plekhanov]], the father of Russian [[Marxism]], called ''[[dialectical materialism]]''.<ref>see Plekhanov, Georgi: 1891. "For the Sixtieth Anniversary of Hegel's Death;" 1893. ''Essays on the History of Materialism''; and 1895. ''[[The Development of the Monist View of History]]''.</ref> In early 20th-century [[Russian philosophy]], [[Vladimir Lenin]] further developed dialectical materialism in his 1909 book ''[[Materialism and Empirio-criticism]]'', which connects his opponents' political conceptions to their anti-materialist philosophies.

A more [[Metaphysical naturalism|naturalist]]-oriented materialist school of thought that developed in the mid-19th century was '''German materialism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, which included [[Ludwig Büchner]] (1824–1899), the Dutch-born [[Jacob Moleschott]] (1822–1893), and [[Carl Vogt]] (1817–1895),<ref>[[Owen Chadwick|Chadwick, Owen]]. 1990. ''The Secularization of the European Mind in the Nineteenth Century''. Cambridge University Press.

'''p. 165''': "During the 1850s German...scientists conducted a controversy known...as the materialistic controversy. It was specially associated with the names of Vogt, Moleschott and Büchner."

'''p. 173''': "Frenchmen were surprised to see Büchner and Vogt.... [T]he French were surprised at German materialism."</ref><ref>''[[The Nineteenth Century and After]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=8-VXAAAAIAAJ&q= Vol. 151]. 1952. p. 227: "the Continental materialism of Moleschott and Buchner<!--[sic]-->."</ref> even though they had different views on core issues such as the evolution and the origins of life.<ref>[[Andreas Daum|Andreas W. Daum]], ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, pp. 210, 293–99.</ref>

According to Marxist theoretician [[George Novack]], despite the multiplicity of named schools, philosophy ultimately confronts a single binary: materialism versus idealism.<ref>Novack, George. "The Origins of Materialism". Pathfinder Press.</ref>

===Contemporary history===
''See also: [[Contemporary philosophy]]''

====Analytic philosophy====
''See also: [[Physicalism|Scientific materialism]]''
Contemporary [[analytic philosopher]]s (e.g. [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Willard Van Orman Quine]], [[Donald Davidson (philosopher)|Donald Davidson]], and [[Jerry Fodor]]) operate within a broadly physicalist or [[scientific materialist]] framework, producing rival accounts of how best to accommodate the [[mind]], including [[functionalism (philosophy of mind)|functionalism]], [[anomalous monism]], and [[identity theory of mind|identity theory]].<ref name="StandfordEM">Ramsey, William. [2003] 2019. "[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/materialism-eliminative/#SpeProFolPsy Eliminative Materialism § Specific Problems With Folk Psychology]" (rev.). ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.</ref>

Scientific materialism is often synonymous with, and has typically been described as, a [[reductive materialism]]. In the early 21st century, [[Paul Churchland|Paul]] and [[Patricia Churchland]]<ref>Churchland, P. S.. "Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind/Brain". MIT Press. 1986.</ref><ref>Churchland, P. M.. "Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes". ''Journal of Philosophy''. 1981.</ref> advocated a radically contrasting position (at least in regard to certain hypotheses): [[eliminative materialism]]. Eliminative materialism holds that some mental phenomena simply do not exist at all, and that talk of such phenomena reflects a spurious "[[folk psychology]]" and [[introspection illusion]]. A materialist of this variety might believe that a concept like "belief" has no basis in fact (e.g. the way folk science speaks of demon-caused illnesses).

With reductive materialism at one end of a continuum (our theories will ''reduce'' to facts) and eliminative materialism at the other (certain theories will need to be ''eliminated'' in light of new facts), [[revisionary materialism]] is somewhere in the middle.<ref name="StandfordEM" />

In contrast, [[Christian List]] argues that the existence of first-person perspectives, i.e., [[vertiginous question|one existing as oneself and not as someone else]], refutes physicalism. List argues that since first-personal facts cannot supervene on physical facts, this refutes not only physicalism, but also most forms of dualism that have purely third-personal metaphysics.<ref>List, Christian. [https://philpapers.org/rec/LISTFA "The first-personal argument against physicalism"]. ''''. 2023.</ref>

====Continental philosophy====
''See also: [[New materialism|Speculative materialism|Transcendental materialism]]''
Contemporary [[continental philosopher]] [[Gilles Deleuze]] attempted to rework and strengthen classical materialist ideas.<ref>Smith, Daniel. [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2015/entries/deleuze/ "Gilles Deleuze"]. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 1 January 2015.</ref> Contemporary theorists such as [[Manuel DeLanda]], working with this reinvigorated materialism, have come to be classified as ''new materialists''.<ref>Dolphijn, Rick. [http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/new-materialism/ "New Materialism: Interviews & Cartographies"]. Open Humanities Press. 1 January 2013.</ref> [[New materialism]] has become its own subfield, with courses on it at major universities, as well as numerous conferences, edited collections and monographs devoted to it. [[Jane Bennett (political theorist)|Jane Bennett]]'s 2010 book ''Vibrant Matter'' has been particularly instrumental in bringing theories of monist ontology and [[vitalism]] back into a critical theoretical fold dominated by [[poststructuralist]] theories of language and discourse.<ref>Bennett, Jane. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OcUcmAEACAAJ "Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things"]. Duke University Press. 4 January 2010.</ref> New materialism has been criticized by scholars of [[critical race theory|critical race]], Indigenous, and [[queer studies]], who argue it neglects questions of race, gender, and colonialism, and by others who question whether its claims are genuinely novel given that Indigenous and animist traditions have long held views about the agency or [[vitalism|vitality]] of matter.<ref>Jackson, Zakiyyah Iman. [https://www.academia.edu/6169668 "Animal: New Directions in the Theorization of Race and Posthumanism"]. ''Feminist Studies''. 2013.; Chen, Mel Y.. "Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect". Duke University Press. 2012.; Todd, Zoe. "An Indigenous Feminist's Take On The Ontological Turn: 'Ontology' Is Just Another Word For Colonialism". ''Journal of Historical Sociology''. 2016.; Watts, Vanessa. "Indigenous Place-Thought and Agency Amongst Humans and Non Humans". ''Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society''. 2013.</ref>

In ''[[Being and Event]]'' (1988), [[Alain Badiou]] developed a materialist position using [[Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory]]. Badiou argues that mathematics, rather than physics or human perception, reveals the metaphysical structure of reality, and that this structure is pure multiplicity without any foundational substance or unifying [[Neoplatonism#The_One|One]].<ref>Dews, Peter. [https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/being-and-event/ "Being and Event (review)"]. ''Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews''. 2008-02-18.</ref>

[[Quentin Meillassoux]] has developed ''speculative materialism'', a position that seeks to escape what he calls "correlationism", the post-Kantian view that thought cannot access reality independent of its relation to the subject.<ref>Meillassoux, Quentin. [https://www.urbanomic.com/document/founded-on-nothing/ "Founded on Nothing"]. ''Urbanomic''. 2023.</ref>

==Defining "matter"==
The nature and definition of ''matter''—like other key concepts in science and philosophy—have occasioned much debate:<ref>Citation needed.</ref>

* Is there a single kind of matter (''[[hyle]]'') that everything is made of, or are there multiple kinds?
* Is matter a continuous substance capable of expressing multiple forms (''[[hylomorphism]]'')<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9041771 "Hylomorphism"] ''Concise Britannica''</ref> or a number of discrete, unchanging constituents ([[atomism]])?<ref>[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-21 "Atomism: Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century"]  ''[[Dictionary of the History of Ideas]]''<br />[https://web.archive.org/web/20050305082323/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-22 "Atomism in the Seventeenth Century"] ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas''
<br />[http://people.umass.edu/schaffer/papers/Fundamental.pdf Article by a philosopher who opposes atomism]  
<br />[http://www.abstractatom.com/buddhist_atomism_and_the_r_theory_of_time.htm Information on Buddhist atomism] 
<br />[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/ Article on traditional Greek atomism]
<br />[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atomism-modern/ "Atomism from the 17th to the 20th Century"] ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''</ref>
* Does matter have intrinsic properties (''[[substance theory]]'')<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/substance/ "''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' on substance theory"]. Plato.stanford.edu.</ref> or lack them (''[[prima materia]]'')?

One challenge to the conventional concept of matter as tangible "stuff" came with the rise of [[field physics]] in the 19th century. [[Special relativity|Relativity]] shows that matter and energy (including the spatially distributed energy of fields) are interchangeable. This enables the ontological view that energy is ''prima materia'' and matter is one of its forms. In contrast, the [[Standard Model]] of particle physics uses [[quantum field theory]] to describe all interactions. On this view it could be said that fields are ''prima materia'' and the energy is a property of the field.<ref>"Cornell University".</ref>June 2019.

According to the dominant cosmological model, the [[Lambda-CDM model]], less than 5% of the universe's energy density is made up of the "matter" the Standard Model describes, and most of the universe is composed of [[dark matter]] and [[dark energy]], with little agreement among scientists about what these are made of.<ref>Bernard Sadoulet "Particle Dark Matter in the Universe: At the Brink of Discovery?" ''Science'' 5 January 2007: Vol. 315. no. 5808, pp. 61 - 63</ref>

With the advent of quantum physics, some scientists believed the concept of matter had merely changed, while others believed the conventional position could no longer be maintained. [[Werner Heisenberg]] said: "The ontology of materialism rested upon the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct 'actuality' of the world around us, can be extrapolated into the atomic range. This extrapolation, however, is impossible...atoms are not things."<ref>Heisenberg, Werner. 1962. ''Physics and philosophy: the revolution in modern science''.</ref>

The concept of matter has changed in response to new scientific discoveries. Thus materialism has no definite content independent of the particular theory of matter on which it is based. According to [[Noam Chomsky]], any [[property (philosophy)|property]] can be considered material, if one defines matter such that it has that property.<ref name="Chomsky, Noam 2000">[[Chomsky, Noam]]. 2000. ''New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind''</ref>

The [[Gustavo Bueno#Philosophical Materialism|philosophical materialist]] [[Gustavo Bueno]] uses a more precise term than ''matter'', the ''stroma.''<ref>{{Citation|title=Gustavo Bueno, Estroma| date=22 May 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiY1rfMk2T0|language=en|access-date=2021-12-28}}</ref>

==Physicalism==
''Main article: [[Physicalism]]''

George Stack distinguishes between materialism and physicalism: <blockquote>text=In the twentieth century, physicalism has emerged out of positivism. Physicalism restricts meaningful statements to physical bodies or processes that are verifiable or in principle verifiable. It is an empirical hypothesis that is subject to revision and, hence, lacks the dogmatic stance of classical materialism. [[Herbert Feigl]] defended physicalism in the United States and consistently held that mental states are brain states and that mental terms have the same referent as physical terms. The twentieth century has witnessed many materialist theories of the mental, and much debate surrounding them.<ref name="Craig1998">Stack, George J.. [https://books.google.com/books?id=G3UBxqkkCX8C&pg=PA171 "Materialism"]. Routledge.</ref></blockquote>

But not all conceptions of physicalism are tied to verificationist theories of meaning or direct realist accounts of perception. Rather, physicalists believe that no "element of reality" is missing from the mathematical formalism of our best description of the world. "Materialist" physicalists also believe that the formalism describes fields of insentience. In other words, the intrinsic nature of the physical is non-experiential.June 2019.

==Religious and spiritual views==
===Christianity===
''Main article: [[Materialism and Christianity]]''
<!--cut and paste to the above-->

==Criticism and alternatives==

===From contemporary physicists===
[[Rudolf Peierls]], a physicist who played a major role in the [[Manhattan Project]], rejected materialism: "The premise that you can describe in terms of physics the whole function of a human being{{nbsp}}... including knowledge and consciousness, is untenable. There is still something missing."<ref>[https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/vedanta/matter-undermined/articleshow/17055344.cms "Matter Undermined"]. ''The Economic Times''. 2 November 2012.</ref>

[[Erwin Schrödinger]] said, "Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else."<ref>"General Scientific and Popular Papers." In ''Collected Papers'', Vol. 4. Vienna: [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]]. Braunschweig/Wiesbaden: Vieweg & Sohn. p. 334.</ref>

[[Werner Heisenberg]] said the advent of quantum physics had undermined atomistic materialism. Specifically, he argued that the discovery of quantum entities existing as probability amplitudes rather than definite particles supports a mathematical, [[Platonic realism|Platonic realist]], rather than materialist, conception of physical reality, arguing that "modern physics takes a definite stand against the materialism of Democritus and for Plato and the Pythagoreans".<ref>Heisenberg, Werner. "Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science". Harper & Row.</ref>

====Quantum mechanics====
Some 20th-century physicists (e.g., [[Eugene Wigner]]<ref>Wigner, Eugene Paul. "Philosophical Reflections and Syntheses". 6 December 2012.</ref> and [[Henry Stapp]]),<ref>[[Henry Stapp|Stapp, Henry]]. "Quantum interactive dualism - an alternative to materialism." ''[[Journal of Consciousness Studies]]''</ref> and some modern physicists and science writers (e.g., [[Stephen Barr]],<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnfarrell/2017/01/29/a-physicist-talks-god-and-the-quantum/ "A Physicist Talks God And The Quantum"]. ''Forbes.com''. .</ref> [[Paul Davies]], and [[John Gribbin]]) have argued that materialism is flawed due to certain recent findings in physics, such as [[quantum mechanics]] and [[chaos theory]]. According to Gribbin and Davies (1991):

<blockquote>text=Then came our Quantum theory, which totally transformed our image of matter. The old assumption that the microscopic world of atoms was simply a scaled-down version of the everyday world had to be abandoned. Newton's deterministic machine was replaced by a shadowy and paradoxical conjunction of waves and particles, governed by the laws of chance, rather than the rigid rules of causality. An extension of the quantum theory goes beyond even this; it paints a picture in which solid matter dissolves away, to be replaced by weird excitations and vibrations of invisible field energy.

Quantum physics undermines materialism because it reveals that matter has far less "substance" than we might believe. But another development goes even further by demolishing Newton's image of matter as inert lumps. This development is the theory of chaos, which has recently gained widespread attention.|author=Paul Davies and John Gribbin|title=''The Matter Myth''|source=Chapter 1: "The Death of Materialism"</blockquote>

====Digital physics====
The objections of Davies and Gribbin are shared by proponents of [[digital physics]], who view information rather than matter as fundamental. The physicist and proponent of digital physics [[John Archibald Wheeler]] wrote, "all matter and all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe."<ref>[[Wojciech H. Zurek|Zurek, Wojciech H.]], ed. 1990. "Information, Physics, Quantum: The Search for Links." In ''Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information''.</ref> Some founders of quantum theory, such as [[Max Planck]], shared their objections. He wrote:

<blockquote>text=As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.|author=Max Planck|source=''Das Wesen der Materie'' (1944)</blockquote>

[[James Jeans]] concurred with Planck, saying, "The Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter."<ref>Jeans, James. 1937. ''[[The Mysterious Universe]]''. p. 137.</ref>

===Philosophical objections===
In the ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'', [[Immanuel Kant]] argued against materialism in defending his [[transcendental idealism]] (as well as offering arguments against [[subjective idealism]] and [[mind–body dualism]]).<ref>Kant, Immanuel. "The refutation of idealism." pp. 345–52 in ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' (1st ed.), edited by [[Norman Kemp Smith|N. K. Smith]]. (2nd ed., pp. 244–7).</ref><ref>Kant, Immanuel. "The refutation of idealism." pp. 345–52 in ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' (1st ed.), edited by [[Norman Kemp Smith|N. K. Smith]]. A379, p. 352: "If, however, as commonly happens, we seek to extend the concept of dualism, and take it in the transcendental sense, neither it nor the two counter-alternatives — pneumatism [idealism] on the one hand, materialism on the other — would have any sort of basis. … Neither the transcendental object which underlies outer appearances nor that which underlies inner intuition, is in itself either matter or a thinking being, but a ground (to us unknown)…"</ref> But Kant argues that change and time require an enduring substrate.<ref>[http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/DB047SECT7 ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'']. : "Kant argues that we can determine that there has been a change in the objects of our perception, not merely a change in our perceptions themselves, only by conceiving of what we perceive as successive states of enduring substances (see Substance)."</ref><ref>Kant, Immanuel. "The refutation of idealism." pp. 345–52 in ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' (1st ed.), edited by [[Norman Kemp Smith|N. K. Smith]]. B274, p. 245:

"All determination of time presupposes something permanent in perception. This permanent cannot, however, be something in me…"</ref>

[[Postmodern]]/[[poststructuralist]] thinkers also express skepticism about any all-encompassing metaphysical scheme. Philosopher [[Mary Midgley]]<ref>[[Mary Midgley|Midgley, Mary]]. 1990. ''The Myths We Live By''.</ref> argues that materialism is a [[self-refuting idea]], at least in its [[Eliminative materialism|eliminative materialist]] form.<ref>Baker, L. 1987. ''Saving Belief''. Princeton: Princeton University Press</ref><ref>Reppert, V. 1992. "Eliminative Materialism, Cognitive Suicide, and Begging the Question." ''[[Metaphilosophy (journal)|Metaphilosophy]]'' 23:378–92.</ref><ref>Seidner, Stanley S. 10 June 2009. "A Trojan Horse: Logotherapeutic Transcendence and its Secular Implications for Theology." [[Mater Dei Institute of Education|Mater Dei Institute]]. p. 5.</ref><ref>[[Peter Boghossian|Boghossian, Peter]]. 1990. "The Status of Content." ''[[The Philosophical Review|Philosophical Review]]'' 99:157–84; and 1991. "The Status of Content Revisited." ''[[Pacific Philosophical Quarterly]]'' 71:264–78.</ref>

====Varieties of idealism====
Arguments for [[idealism]], such as those of [[Hegel]] and [[George Berkeley|Berkeley]], often take the form of an argument against materialism; indeed, Berkeley's idealism was called ''[[immaterialism]]''. Now, matter can be argued to be redundant, as in [[bundle theory]], and mind-independent properties can, in turn, be reduced to subjective [[percept]]s. Berkeley gives an example of the latter by pointing out that it is impossible to gather direct evidence of matter, as there is no direct experience of matter; all that is experienced is perception, whether internal or external. As such, matter's existence can only be inferred from the apparent (perceived) stability of perceptions; it finds absolutely no evidence in direct experience.<ref>de Waal, Cornelis. "Having an Idea of Matter: A Peircean Refutation of Berkeleyan Immaterialism". ''[[Journal of the History of Ideas]]''. April 2006.</ref>

If matter and energy are seen as necessary to explain the physical world, but incapable of explaining mind, [[mind–body dualism|dualism]] results. [[Emergence]], [[holism]] and [[process philosophy]] seek to ameliorate the perceived shortcomings of traditional (especially [[mechanism (philosophy)|mechanistic]]) materialism without abandoning materialism entirely.June 2019.

===Materialism as methodology===
Some critics object to materialism as part of an overly skeptical, narrow or [[reductionism|reductivist]] approach to theorizing, rather than to the ontological claim that matter is the only substance. [[particle physics|Particle physicist]] and Anglican [[theology|theologian]] [[John Polkinghorne]] objects to what he calls ''promissory materialism''—claims that materialistic science will eventually succeed in explaining phenomena it has not so far been able to explain.<ref>However, critics of materialism are equally guilty of prognosticating that it will ''never'' be able to explain certain phenomena. "Over a hundred years ago [[William James]] saw clearly that science would never resolve the [[mind–body dualism|mind–body problem]]." [https://www.designinference.com/documents/1999.10.spiritual_machines.htm ''Are We Spiritual Machines?'']  Dembski, W.</ref> Polkinghorne prefers "[[dual-aspect monism]]" to materialism.<ref>[http://www.crosscurrents.org/polkinghorne.htm "Interview with John Polkinghorne"]. Crosscurrents.org.</ref>

Some scientific materialists have been criticized for failing to provide clear definitions of matter, leaving the term ''materialism'' without any definite meaning. [[Noam Chomsky]] states that since the concept of matter may be affected by new scientific discoveries, as has happened in the past, scientific materialists are being dogmatic in assuming the opposite.<ref name="Chomsky, Noam 2000" />

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Aleatory materialism]]
* [[Antimaterialism (disambiguation)|Antimaterialism]] beliefs:
** [[Gnosticism]]
** [[Idealism]]
** [[Immaterialism]]
** [[Maya (religion)]]
** [[Mind–body dualism]]
** [[Platonic realism]]
** [[Supernaturalism]]
** [[Transcendentalism]]
* [[Cārvāka]]
* [[Christian materialism]]
* [[Critical realism (philosophy of the social sciences)|Critical realism]]
* [[Cultural materialism (anthropology)|Cultural materialism]]
* [[Dialectical materialism]]
* [[Economic materialism]]
* [[Existence]]
* [[French materialism]]
* [[Grotesque body]]
* [[Historical materialism]]
* [[Hyle]]
* [[Incorporeality]]
* [[Madhyamaka]], a philosophy of [[Middle Way]]
* [[Marxist philosophy of nature]]
* [[Materialist feminism]]
* [[Metaphysical naturalism]]
* [[Model-dependent realism]]
* [[Naturalism (philosophy)]]
* [[Gustavo Bueno#Philosophical materialism|Philosophical materialism]]
* [[Philosophy of mind]]
* [[Physicalism]]
* [[Postmaterialism]]
* [[Quantum energy]]
* [[Rational egoism]]
* [[Reality in Buddhism]]
* [[Scientistic materialism]]
* [[Substance theory]]
* [[Transcendence (religion)]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
'''a.''' {{note label|a|a|none}} Indeed, it has been noted it is difficult if not impossible to define one category without contrasting it with the other.<ref name="Priest1991">Priest, Stephen. "Theories of the Mind". [[Penguin Books]].. {{ISBN|0-14-013069-1|978-0-14-013069-0}}.</ref><ref name=Novack1979>Novack, George. "The Origins of Materialism". Pathfinder Press.</ref>
{{refend}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==

*Campbell, Keith. "Materialism". Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 6, 2nd edition, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 5–18.
*Stoljar, Daniel. "Physicalism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, February 13, 2001 (substantive revision May 25, 2021). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Buchner, L. (1920). ''Force and Matter''. New York, Peter Eckler Publishing Co.
* Churchland, Paul (1981). ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2025900 Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes]''. The Philosophy of Science. Boyd, Richard; P. Gasper; J. D. Trout. Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press.
* Field, Hartry H.. "Readings in Philosophy of Psychology". Taylor & Francis.
* Flanagan, Owen J.. [https://books.google.com/books?id=80HIwMz3bvwC "Science of the Mind 2e"]. MIT Press.
* Fodor, J.A. (1974). "Special Sciences", ''Synthese'', Vol. 28.
* Gunasekara, Victor A. (2001). "[http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/buddha/Teachings/basicteaching11.htm Buddhism and the Modern World]". "Basic Buddhism: A Modern Introduction to the Buddha's Teaching". 18 January 2008
* Kim, J. (1994) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2107741 Multiple Realization and the Metaphysics of Reduction], ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'', Vol. 52. 
* [[Julien Offray de La Mettrie|La Mettrie, La Mettrie, Julien Offray de]] (1748). ''L'Homme Machine'' (''[[Man a Machine]]'')
* Lange, Friedrich A. (1925) ''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/703434926 The History of Materialism]''. New York, Harcourt, Brace, & Co.
* Moser, Paul K.. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-vIzCvCAxpgC "Contemporary Materialism: A Reader"]. Psychology Press.
* Priest, Stephen. "Theories of the Mind". [[Penguin Books]]. Alternative {{ISBN|978-0-14-013069-0}}
* Schopenhauer, Arthur (1969). ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]''. New York, Dover Publications, Inc.
* Seidner, Stanley S. (10 June 2009). [https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:FrKYAo88ckkJ:www.materdei.ie/media/conferences/a-secular-age-parallel-sessions-timetable.pdf+%22Stan+Seidner%22&hl=en&gl=us "A Trojan Horse: Logotherapeutic Transcendence and its Secular Implications for Theology"]. ''Mater Dei Institute''
* Turner, MS. "Quarks and the Cosmos". ''Science''. 5 January 2007.
* Vitzthum, Richard C. (1995) ''[https://books.google.com/books/about/Materialism.html?id=odjWAAAAMAAJ Materialism: An Affirmative History and Definition]''. Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|commonscat=yes|n=no}}
*Citation needed.
*''[[Stanford Encyclopedia]]'':
**[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/ Physicalism]
**[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/materialism-eliminative/ Eliminative Materialism]
*[https://infidels.org/library/modern/richard-vitzthum-materialism/ Philosophical Materialism (by Richard C. Vitzthum)] from infidels.org
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140703140228/https://sites.google.com/site/minddict/materialism Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind on Materialism] from the [[University of Waterloo]]

{{Environmental humanities}}

{{Metaphysics}}

{{Philosophy topics}}

{{Philosophy of mind}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Materialism| ]]
[[Category:Metaphysical theories]]
[[Category:Ontology]]