Materialism

Basically materialism considers the physical body and the physical world to be the overriding reality, as rather than thought, attention, art and law which, according to Plato and in idealistic philosophy, are prior to the physical body and are responsible for the great and primal works and actions. As opposed to agnosticism, which holds that it is impossible to characterize reality objectively, materialism recognizes the world as cognizable and considers mankind capable of reaching objective truth.

Dialectical materialism involves the logical testing of ideas via thesis, antithesis and synthesis, stressing universal relationships and progressive change. Consciousness is held to be a function of the brain which, in turn, is said to be the most highly organized form of matter's motion, matter and motion being eternal and infinite. Knowledge, however, is relative; human thought exists only as the thought of past, present and future generations and truth emerges historically as the expression of this cognitive process. Based on scientific and social progress, dialectical materialism itself is the basis of Marxist-Leninist teaching.