Materialism And Spiritualism - Part 1

Materialism and spiritualism are not two opposed abstract theories about the nature of the world, of small concern to ordinary practical folk. But they are opposed ways of interpreting and understanding every question, and consequently, they express opposite approaches in practice and lead to very different conclusions in terms of practical activity. Before trying to define materialism and spiritualism in general terms, let us consider how these two ways of understanding things are expressed in relation to certain simple and familiar questions. This will help us to grasp the significance of the distinction between a materialist and a spiritualist interpretation.

First let us consider a very familiar natural phenomenon – a thunderstorm. What causes thunderstorms? A spiritualist way of answering this question is to say that thunderstorms are due to anger of god. Being angry he arranges for lightning and thunderbolts to descend upon mankind. The materialist way of understanding thunderstorms is opposed to this. The materialist will try to explain and understand thunderstorms as being solely due to what we call natural forces e.g. ancient materialists suggested that far from thunderstorms being due to the anger of gods, they were caused by material particles in the clouds banging against each other. That this particular explanation was wrong is not the point. The point is that it was an attempt at materialist as opposed to spiritualist explanation. Nowadays a great deal more is known about thunderstorms arising from the scientific investigation of the natural forces involved. Knowledge remains very incomplete but at all events enough is known to make it quite clear that the explanation must be on materialist lines, so that the spiritualist explanation has become thoroughly discredited. It will be seen that while the spiritualist explanation tries to relate the phenomenon to be explained to some spiritual cause – in this case the anger of god – the materialist explanation relates to material causes. In this example, most educated people today would agree in accepting the materialist interpretation. This is because they generally accept the scientific explanation of natural phenomena and every advance of natural science is an advance in the materialist understanding of nature.

Let us take a second example, this time one arising from social life. For instance, why are there rich and poor? This is a question many people ask, especially the poor. The most straightforward spiritualist answer to this question is to say – it is because god made them so. It is the will of god that some should be rich and others poor. Those who favour this type of explanation say that it is all due to eternal “human nature”. The materialist, on the other hand, seeks the reason in the material, economic conditions of social life. If society is divided into rich and poor it is because the production of material means of life is so ordered that some have the possession of the land and other means of production while the rest have to work for them. On such questions therefore the difference between a materialist and spiritualist conception can be very important not merely in a theoretical but in a practical sense. A materialist concept of thunderstorms for example helps us to take precautions against them, such as fitting buildings with lightning conductors. But if our explanation of thunderstorms is spiritualist then all we do is watch and pray.