Find the word definition

The Collaborative International Dictionary
philosophical materialism

Materialism \Ma*te"ri*al*ism\, n. [Cf. F. mat['e]rialisme.]

  1. The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and tenets; called also philosophical materialism.

    The irregular fears of a future state had been supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus.
    --Buckminster.

  2. The tendency to give undue importance to material interests as contrasted with spiritual concerns; devotion to the material nature and its wants.

  3. Material substances in the aggregate; matter. [R. & Obs.]
    --A. Chalmers.

    philosophical materialism The theory that matter and energy are the only objects existing within the universe, and that mental and spiritual phenomena are explainable as functions of the nervous system of people. Same as materialism[1].

Usage examples of "philosophical materialism".

I found it fascinating that he wasalso well versed in philosophical materialism from Dem-ocritus, Epicurus and Lucretius to Hobbes, La Mettrie,Holbach and Bchner.