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philosophical materialism (physicalism)

Philosophical materialism (physicalism) is the metaphysical view that there is only one substance in the universe and that substance is physical, empirical or material. Materialists believe that spiritual substance does not exist. Paranormal, supernatural or occult phenomena are either delusions or reducible to physical forces.

Materialists are not necessarily atheists, nor do they deny the reality of such things as love or justice, beauty or goodness.

See also Baron d' Holbach and naturalism.

further reading

• Philosophical Materialism by Richard C. Vitzthum
• Epicurus and Donald Davidson in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Dennett, Daniel Clement. Darwin's dangerous idea: evolution and the meanings of life (New York : Simon & Schuster, 1995).

Dennett, Daniel Clement. Elbow room : the varieties of free will worth wanting (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1984).

Dennett, Daniel Clement. Kinds of minds: toward an understanding of consciousness (New York, N.Y. : Basic Books, 1996).

Kurtz, Paul. Philosophical Essays in Pragmatic Naturalism (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1990).

Moser, Paul K. and J.D. Trout. Contemporary Materialism : A Reader (Routledge, 1995).

Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Random House, 1995).

Vitzthum, Richard C. Materialism: An Affirmative History and Definition (Prometheus, 1995).

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