Any theory emphasizing the existence, priority, or value of matter or material objects; though the popular sense of emphasizing the value of material things is uncommon in philosophy.
Usually materialists say that matter alone exists, everything else (notably minds or spirits and their ideas and experiences) being analyzable in terms of matter (a form of reductionism; also see: identity theory of mind); or else, more weakly, that though minds and so on may be different from matter, they originated from matter and would not exist without it (a form of emergence theory).
A slightly less weak materialism would add that such minds would vanish were matter to vanish (since they still depend on it causally). For a still weaker version see immaterialism. Materialists may also deny the substantive and irreducible existence of abstract objects like properties, numbers, propositions, and so on though this is usually less emphasized.
Modern physics has cast the notion of matter itself into some confusion, though in ways that have not so far greatly affected the above debates; problems concerning it, and in particular its relation to space, go back at least to Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and indeed to Plato (4th century BC).
Also see: dialectic
Source:
A Quinton, The Nature of Things (1973)
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 Generation Wealth
- 2.2 Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
- 2.3 Materialism
- 2.4 Materialism
- 2.5 Why Materialism Is Baloney: How True Skeptics Know There Is No Death and Fathom Answers to life, the Universe, and Everything
- 2.6 The High Price of Materialism (A Bradford Book)
- 2.7 Dialectical and Historical Materialism
- 2.8 Less is More: How to be Happy with Nothing
- 2.9 New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics
- 2.10 The Incorporeal: Ontology, Ethics, and the Limits of Materialism
- Plato’s theory of forms (or ideas)
- Platonism
- particularism
- Aristotle’s four causes
- simple theory of types
Videos
Generation Wealth
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Lauren Greenfield (Director) - Lauren Greenfield (Writer) - Frank Evers (Producer)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
- Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
- Shambhala
- Trungpa, Chögyam (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 256 Pages - 08/01/2002 (Publication Date) - Shambhala (Publisher)
Materialism
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Eagleton, Terry (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 192 Pages - 01/26/2017 (Publication Date) - Yale University Press (Publisher)
Materialism
- Brown, Robin (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 158 Pages - 05/08/2019 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
Why Materialism Is Baloney: How True Skeptics Know There Is No Death and Fathom Answers to life, the Universe, and Everything
- Iff Books
- Kastrup, Bernardo (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 250 Pages - 04/25/2014 (Publication Date) - Iff Books (Publisher)
The High Price of Materialism (A Bradford Book)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Kasser, Tim (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 180 Pages - 08/29/2003 (Publication Date) - A Bradford Book (Publisher)
Dialectical and Historical Materialism
- Stalin, Joseph (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 52 Pages - 05/21/2013 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
Less is More: How to be Happy with Nothing
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- --- (Actor)
- Constanze Griessler (Director) - Unavailable (Producer)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- English (Publication Language)
- 348 Pages - 09/09/2010 (Publication Date) - Duke University Press Books (Publisher)
The Incorporeal: Ontology, Ethics, and the Limits of Materialism
- Grosz, Elizabeth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 336 Pages - 11/06/2018 (Publication Date) - Columbia University Press (Publisher)
Last update 2020-06-17. Price and product availability may change.