MaterialismMaterialism in philosophy is a form of physicalism which claims that existence is entirely explainable in material terms, or that matter (its forms and interactions) are all that exists. Thus materialism denies existence to spiritual realms and entities entirely, and relies upon cause and effect only as far as these can be quantified to properties of matter itself to explain all observable phenomena.
Materialism is opposed to both spiritualism and positivism, and was developed primarily by the Greek atomists. Epicurian materialism was described in a didactic poem by the Roman philosopher Lucretius, and the philosophy has pitted itself throughout its existence against all spiritual theologies of interfering or creating deities. Modern science relies upon assumptions arising from philosophical materialism for its considerable power in explaining natural phenomena in terms of physical processes that can be initiated and/or controlled by human beings for practical purposes.
Many philosophers fault modern science for its attempts to apply materialism to questions it cannot address in any way other than simple denial of experience, which includes denial of human consciousness and free will. Such qualitative attributes of matter are instead said to be either reducible to the deterministic interactions of matter, or emergent from the complexities of the interactions of matter.
Web Resources On Materialism
Materialism from All About Philosophy
Materialism from Wikipedia
Book Resources On MaterialismCulture and Materialism by Raymond Williams
Historical Materialism and Social Evolution by Paul Blackledge and Graeme Kirkpatrick, Eds.
Materialism and Empirio-Criticism: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy by V. I. Lenin
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