materialism

n. preoccupation with material matters; belief that physical comfort is the highest value

In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions; that matter is the only substance. As a theory, materialism belongs to the class of monist ontology. As such, it is different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism. In terms of singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism stands in sharp contrast to idealism.
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Noun
1. a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters
(synonym) philistinism
(hypernym) desire
2. (philosophy) the philosophical theory that matter is the only reality
(synonym) physicalism
(hypernym) philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory
(hyponym) dialectical materialism
(classification) philosophy

(n.)
The tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.
  

(n.)
The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and tenets.
  

(n.)
Material substances in the aggregate; matter.
  

Materialism In the rigid philosophical sense, any theory which considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained by the existence and nature of matter. A familiar form of this is what has been called the atomo-mechanical theory, which derives all phenomena from the movements of material atoms in space. The philosophical definition of materialism differs according to the meaning of the word matter; as for instance, when we limit matter by no physical attributes or implications alone, but see in it the sevenfold prakritis or pradhanas of Hindu philosophers and mystics, matter is then seen to be but a name for the veil or shadow of spirit -- the other side of spirit as it were. This distinction makes materialism but a synonym for spiritualism -- i.e., the profound philosophic theory that the universe is built throughout, from and of the substances and attributes of spirit, which become matter in its innumerable and manifold forms and phases on the lower cosmic planes. What physicists have been calling matter is a percept derived from the interaction of the physical senses with the physical plane of prakriti or nature.
Matter is one of the twin aspects of universal life, coeternal with spirit and indeed spirit's veil or vehicle, and hence is present on every plane of manifestation, from the highest to the lowest. When the manifested One of a universe is considered as a unit or unity, it is called the First or Unmanifest Logos; when it is considered as a duality it is called the Manifest-Unmanifested or Second Logos, and is spirit-matter or life, spirit being its positive pole and matter its negative. Matter is everywhere the vehicle of spirit, and in matter inhere the attributes which spirit expresses in it. Hence materialism, in this sense, would define the whole theosophic philosophy.
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