8 representatives of philosophical MATERIALISM

In today's lesson of a Teacher we are going to talk about the main managersof philosophical materialism, current that defends that the beginning of everything is matter (science).

Undoubtedly, this current is one of the longest within philosophy, since it extends from the Ancient Greece to the present day. With authors like Thales of Miletus, Heraclitus, Democritus, Aristotle, Epicurus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Denis Diderot, Ludwig Feuerbach, Friedrich Engels or Karl Marx. If you want to know more about materialism and its representatives, keep reading because in this article by a PROFESOR we explain everything to you. Let's start!

Before talking about the representatives of materialism, we have to make it clear what materialism is. materialism in philosophy.

In this way, we have the term materialism It is composed of two words that have their origin in ancient Greek and that means the doctrine of the matter. Therefore, materialism stands as the philosophical current that defends that

matter is the origin of everything, that is to say, that things and reality exist because they have matter and, therefore, they exist without the need to be created or perceived.

Likewise, his birth must be located in Ancient Greece with philosophers such as Thales of Miletus (624-547 BC) C.), Anaximander (610-546 BC) C.), Democritus (460-370 BC) C) or Aristotle (384-322). Highlighting the latter with his theory of the dual universe, according to which everything is made up of matter, essence and substance.

types of materialism

Later, materialism branched out:

• historical materialism
• dialectical materialism

And it has had great representatives, such as: Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Friederich Engels (1820-1895), Karl Marx (1818-1883)...

Having explained materialism, we move on to study nine of the most important representatives of materialism:

1. Thales of Miletus, 624-546 BC. c.

Thales of Miletus was the founder of the school of miletus. The one that is considered the first scientific school of Greece, and according to which, all the phenomena have their explanation in science or in natural laws (logos), leaving aside divine intervention or religious explanation (mythos).

In this way, Thales of Miletus, considered one of the seven wise men, was the first to establish that the beginning of everything was water, that everything was governed by physical principles and not by divine whims.

This theory was reflected in the lost treatise of him the Nautical Astrology, of which we have evidence through disciples such as Anaximander.

2. Anaximander of Miletus, 610-545 BC. c.

We know that he wrote a book called about nature (the first analytical and research work of the classical world), which was the initiator of studies on biology, astrology, physics or geography, who was the first to call the universe a world and who developed a rational and naturalistic view of universe.

Among the main contributions of Anaximander highlights the principle of apeiron. Defined as the beginning of all things (arkhé = substance that is the origin of the universe), the one that governs the world, that which is indefinite, indeterminate, eternal, that which does not has an end, from which all things arise and in which everything comes out and returns (all beings come out of and derive from it) through a succession and cyclical struggle of opposites (day-night, hot-cold, wet-dry...).

3. Democritus of Abdera, 460-370 BC. c.

Democritus developed atomic theory, according toall matter is made up of atoms intertwined, indivisible, eternal, invisible and of different sizes (which makes the property of matter vary), which are in constant movement (in a whirlwind, the heaviest move towards the center and the lightest move out) and that between them is the void (the non be).

Also, he argued that matter is the origin and beginning of everything, that is to say, that things and reality exist because they have matter (without matter nothing exists = non-being). In this sense, he also affirms that things exist without needing to be created or perceive, rejects intangibility (the metaphysical world and the supernatural) and the idea of ​​existence of a higher entity or creator god of the world (for him, things are formed through clashes of atoms).

4. Epicurus, 341-271 BC. c.

Epicurusis another of the representatives of philosophical materialism. In addition, he is one of the most important Greek philosophers and we know that he wrote countless manuscripts (about 340), of which only three have survived. Of these three, due to his contribution to physics and materialism, stands out Letter to Herodotus.

In said manuscript, he affirms that all reality is made up of atoms (with extension, weight and shape) and the infinite void (where atoms move). That is to say, that all things are composed of random combinations of atoms (including the soul) and of an infinite void (where atoms move). These have always existed, they are the ones that create and destroy everything, therefore, the natural phenomena are the work of atomic physics/the laws of atoms and not of the gods.

5. Giordano Bruno, 1548-1600

The contributions plus imports of Giordano Bruno, we find them in the field of theology, astronomy or physics.

In this way, he defends pantheism and, therefore, the idea that the deity, nature and the universe are the same or equivalent. That is, there is no specific belief in the divine entity called God.

On the other hand, he also highlights his theory of relativity of motion and atomism. According to:

• All motion is relative motion.
• The movement is conditioned by a reference system.
• Earth is not static.
• The universe is made up of combinations of small particles (matter) that mutate and reconfigure the universe.

6. Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642

This mathematician and astronomer is considered the father of physics and modern science. In fact, Galileo perfected the heliocentric theoryCopernicus and in his work sidereus nuncius (1610) he established that:

• The stars are not perfect spherical bodies, because when observing the Moon he saw he could see an orography composed of craters.
• He observed the phases of Venus and the four satellites that revolved around Jupiter (Io, Europa, Callisto and Gamínides -Gallian satellites-) and not around the Sun. Thus confirming that the Earth was not -the center of the universe.

7. Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872

Within materialism, Feuerbachrejects the idea of ​​the metaphysical world and the intangible, that is, that collides directly with religion for being something that is not material.

Thus, he developed the concept of alignment and he used it to explain religion: How man renounces his own being / nature to create a being in which everything that cannot be is projected, that is, man alienates himself in God. So God is a product created that ends up dominating its creator or producer (man): "It is not God who creates man, but man creates God."

8. Karl Marx, 1818-1883

Within the concept of history, from materialism stand out the postulates of Marx. Whoever establishes that the world is a reality with a subjective matter linked to a history, that is to say, that for Marx it is not important the fact of everything part of a matter, but what influences the history, the material conditions (what determines society: what we produce, technology, the economy...) and, therefore, to understand the world we must understand the materiality of relationships economics, technology… of our society.

Hence, he tells us that philosophers have always tried to interpret the different ways of the world, but that what it really is about is understanding and transforming it.