materialists

Materialists are proponents of materialism, the philosophical view that matter is fundamental and that all phenomena, including mind and consciousness, arise from material interactions governed by physical laws. In philosophy, materialism is often contrasted with idealism, which posits mental reality as primary.

There are various forms of materialism. Ontological materialism holds that everything that exists is material. Methodological or scientific materialism treats material causes as the primary basis for inquiry. Physicalism is a contemporary term commonly used interchangeably with materialism, especially in science. Some strands, such as dialectical materialism, integrate materialist explanations with particular theories of change and development within history or society.

Historical development: in ancient Greece, Democritus and Leucippus argued that reality consists of indivisible atoms and void. In modern times, materialist ideas resurfaced during the Enlightenment and were developed by thinkers such as Ludwig Feuerbach, and most prominently Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who articulated historical materialism, linking social and economic life to material conditions and productive forces.

In science, materialist or physicalist assumptions underlie much of contemporary neuroscience and physics, which explain mental phenomena as brain processes and physical interactions. Materialism has faced criticisms from dualists, idealists, and proponents of non-physical explanations of mind, including debates about consciousness, qualia, and free will, as well as challenges to reductions of complex phenomena to purely material terms.

The term also features in cultural and religious discourse, where materialism is used to critique non-material explanations and to advocate for empirical, evidence-based approaches to understanding reality.