The Plague of Misidentification

Materialism

In today's TPOM, we will look at the philosophical concept of materialism. 

Critical Distinction

I want to set out a distinction that though this will be an introduction to materialism, we need to be aware from the outset that materialism and physicalism share many components and differ in significant ways. The following will not deal with physicalism proper, but I will be writing about physicalism in coming installments. 

What is Materialism?

"Materialism is the theory or belief that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications; (more narrowly) the theory or belief that mental phenomena are nothing more than, or are wholly caused by, the operation of material or physical agencies." OED.

"Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are by-products or epiphenomena of material processes, without which they cannot exist." Wikipedia.

"Materialism, also called physicalism (emphasis mine - it is not as simple as "also called"), in philosophy, the view that all facts (including facts about the human mind and will and the course of human history) are causally dependent upon physical processes, or even reducible to them. The word materialism has been used in modern times to refer to a family of metaphysical theories (i.e., theories of the nature of reality) that can best be defined by saying that a theory tends to be called materialist if it is felt sufficiently to resemble a paradigmatic theory that will here be called mechanical materialism." Encyclopedia Britannica.