n. [ Cf. F. immatérialisme. ] 1. The doctrine that immaterial substances or spiritual being exist, or are possible. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Philos.) The doctrine that external bodies may be reduced to mind and ideas in a mind; any doctrine opposed to materialism or phenomenalism, esp. a system that maintains the immateriality of the soul; idealism; esp., Bishop Berkeley's theory of idealism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. matérialisme. ] 1. The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and tenets; called also philosophical materialism. [ 1913 Webster ]

The irregular fears of a future state had been supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus. Buckminster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The tendency to give undue importance to material interests as contrasted with spiritual concerns; devotion to the material nature and its wants. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Material substances in the aggregate; matter. [ R. & Obs. ] A. Chalmers. [ 1913 Webster ]

philosophical materialism The theory that matter and energy are the only objects existing within the universe, and that mental and spiritual phenomena are explainable as functions of the nervous system of people. Same as materialism{ 1 }. [ PJC ]