Materialism

From Epicurus Wiki

Epicureanism is a decidedly materialistic philosophy.

Epicurean materialism must not be misunderstood in the sense attached to the term by popular culture (i.e. the love of material possessions), but in the sense that everything that exists is material. The less common, but perhaps more precise term used on occasion is "physicalism".

In this respect, Epicureans and Stoics are aligned in comprehending the real as material; they differ from Platonic and Neoplatonic thinkers and, of course, religious spiritualists.

Epicurus and his followers discussed at length the atomic constitution of all matter, and the ubiquity of matter itself, as "surrounded by void".

The Epicurean attempts to explain optical, acoustical, thermal, etc. phenomena in strictly material terms have been completed and complemented by modern physics, and its foundational correlation between matter and energy.

Epicurean materialism has been a rich source of ideas for further development, and by such notable thinkers as Pierre Gassendi and Karl Marx.