Wolfe C.T., Symons J. (eds.) The History and Philosophy of Materialism

Routledge, 2024. — 501 p.Materialism - the view that facts are dependent upon or reducible to physical processes - is one of the most long-standing and controversial of all philosophical theories. Originating in antiquity, its proponents include Epicurus, Hobbes, Diderot, Darwin and Marx, whilst its impact on modern physics and consciousness debates reverberates strongly today. It is also an important yet generally overlooked feature of Indian, Chinese and Islamic thought.
This major collection, the first of its kind, explores the fascinating philosophical history of materialism, from the ancient world to the twenty-first century. Comprising thirty-one chapters by an international team of contributors, the volume is divided into six clear parts:
Ancient, Non-Western and Medieval PhilosophyRenaissance and Early Modern PhilosophyEnlightenment MaterialismsNineteenth-Century PhilosophyTwentieth-Century PhilosophyContemporary Philosophy: Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics and Critique.
Within these sections key topics are covered, including materialism in classical Greece, India and China, and Aztec metaphysics; Renaissance materialism and anti-materialism; materialism and Islamic philosophy; materialism in the French and German Enlightenment; atheism and materialism; nineteenth-century materialist controversies and debates in physics; Marxism and materialism; physicalism; and the new materialism.
The History and Philosophy of Materialism is ideal for those studying and researching the history of this vital philosophical movement, especially those with an interest in the history and philosophy of science, ancient and early modern philosophy and the Enlightenment. It will also be valuable reading for those in related disciplines such as history, sociology and religion.Notes on Contributors
Introduction: The History and Philosophy of Materialism
Ancient, Non-Western and Medieval Philosophy
Aristotle and Materialism
Epicurus’ Materialism and Its Roots
Materialism, Monism and Emergent Properties in the Latin Middle Ages
Materialism in Medieval Islamic Thought
Conquest-Era Nahua Metaphysics: An Indigenous Materialism?
Materialism in India
Materialism in Chinese Thought
Renaissance and Early Modern Philosophy
Cosmological Materialism in the Renaissance
Epicurean Materialism Revisited: Gassendi on the Human Soul
Margaret Cavendish’s Materialism: Giving Up the Ghost in the Machine
Malebranche: A Materialist Malgré Lui?
Locke and His Critics on the Possibility of Material Minds
Early Modern Critiques of Materialism and Atheism: Cudworth, Clarke, and Berkeley
Enlightenment Materialisms
Anthony Collins on Texture and Structural Materialism
From Active Matter and Movement to ‘Sensibilité’ and Social Harmony: d’Holbach’s Enchanted Materialism
Materialism in the German Enlightenment, ca. 1690–1790
Is Materialism Atheistic?
Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
Materialism Between Science and Metaphysics: Controversies in Germany (1840s–1870s)
The Specter of Materialism Haunts France and French Spiritualism. Victor Cousin’s Attempt at Exorcism
Darwinism, Positivism, Materialism, Relativism: Science and Philosophy in the 1860s
When Matter Ceased to Matter: The Disappearance of the Philosophical Problem of Matter From Physics in the Late Nineteenth Century
Twentieth-Century Philosophy
History of Materialism and Intelligent Materialism
Beyond Ideology: Revisiting Dialectical Materialism in the Soviet Tradition
Russian Marxism and the Materialist Interpretation of Spinoza
Freudo-Marxist Materialism
Althusser’s Materialisms: Dialectical, Historical, and Aleatory
Neurath’s Physicalism
Contemporary Philosophy: Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics and Critique
Our Mind-Body Problem
The Materialist Sixties
From Materialism to Physicalism: An Opinionated Sketch
Matter: A Feminist Reading
Index