МАТЕРИАЛИЗМ ЕСТЕСТВЕННО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ

Materialism, Natural-Historical

Also known as scientific materialism, the concepts used by Lenin to define the spontaneous "philosophically unconscious conviction shared by the overwhelming majority of scientists regarding the objective reality of the external world" (Vol. 14, p. 346). The general acceptance of Natural-Historical Materialism by scientists shows that cognition of nature leads to recognition of the materiality of the world.

If Natural-Historical Materialism is not formulated as a consistent theory, however, it cannot escape the limitations of a one-sided mechanistic, metaphysical materialism and declines into vulgar empiricism and positivism. Its limitations become most apparent in periods when scientific theories are revolutionized. At such times it is unable to explain the new facts of knowledge that contradict established notions. For this reason the difficulties of interpreting new scientific facts often lead scientists to abandon their spontaneous materialist convictions in favor of idealism (see Idealism, Physical). True philosophical generalization of the conclusions arrived at by specialized sciences can be achieved only from the standpoint of dialectical-materialist philosophy.