The term materialism today appears to be a remnant of previous eras, the eras in which the struggle between the materialism and idealism currents was a major headline in philosophical debates. Therefore, claiming the centrality of materialism in contemporary philosophical, scientific, and cultural debates may seem like a strange claim, or a miserable attempt to describe a present reality according to perspectives that are no longer usable, or perhaps, at best, merely a revival of the greatest of what these currents raised in the past. But it is precisely this claim that Terry Eagleton makes in his book Materialism.
As usual in his conceptual books, Eagleton not only examines conventional concepts, but fundamentally recasts materialism. This can be seen at the beginning of the first chapter entitled “Materialism,” which is the first of five chapters, where Eagleton indicates that he will be limited to a specific form of materialism despite the spread of the term and its many uses, such as the “generally social or political forms.” The specific form relates to what Eagleton called the modes of human existence creatureliness in the introduction of the book, that is, so to speak, the existence associated with the human body that is shared by all people “regardless of gender and ethnicity, for example.” In this context, the subject of the book is determined in the philosophy of somatic materialism, which is, in general, a reflection of the physical existence of humans and all the resulting interactions with reality. In other words, it signifies “an expression of human beings animality, practical activity, and physical composition” in isolation from the specifications that bestow these aspect-specific social meanings.
In order to explain this somatic materialism, Eagleton briefly reviews various popular forms of materialism. Among the materialisms he reviews are moral, dialectical, historical, cultural, semiotic, speculative (or philosophical) materialism, and others. In his review, Eagleton does not aim to complicate the concept of materialism as much as he aims to shed light on a main thing; the fundamental common denominator between all these materialisms, which is the somatic materialism that he set the foundation for from the beginning. The somatic materialism that shows the connection of the diverse types of materialism with the idea of the body as he presents it, this means that his somatic materialism is an ontological approach, meaning that it examines reality and how we understand it.
In the second chapter of the book, Eagleton raises the problem of the soul, or the body-soul dualism, which is inevitably questioned whenever the concept of matter or the differences between humans and other animals is raised. Eagleton first asserts that we are truly distinct from other material beings and entities, meaning that it is not correct to limit all dimensions of the world to its materiality, however, he points out that this differentiation is part of our materiality. We are, primarily, material masses, and everything that can be called the mind, soul, or feeling is an extension of this materiality and an integral part of our physiological composition. In other words, everything that we believe distinguishes us from other beings and creatures is only part of our materialistic characteristics. The union of body and soul, as Merleau-Ponty’s quote in the same chapter indicates, is enacted at every instant of the movement of existence, that is, it is part of our nature of being humans and one of its characteristics. While it cannot be claimed that Eagleton was the first to advocate this idea, it is necessary to understand it according to his proposal because it is an introduction to what follows.
In each of the next three chapters, Eagleton addresses a particular type of somatic materialism from the perspective of a particular philosopher, meaning he takes a philosophy as his starting point, to show that its essence is somatic-materialistic, and then place it in broader philosophical contexts. The third chapter, for example, revolves around Karl Marx and the subjectivism of the senses, so to speak, that is, Marx’s concept of materialism as the restoration of the subjective agent in perceiving the world around us. The proposal of this chapter revolves around the Marxist idea that our ability to sense the world is not only the result of us being humans, but it is the result of an interaction between subjects and the world. In this context, the senses have their own history, “evolving since humanity began its work on the material world, transforming its own sensory composition in the process.” This means, as Eagleton puts it, that our ability to sense the material world and social institutions are two sides of the same coin, that is, each develops in tandem with the other.
Eagleton also explains the connection between Marx’s philosophy of materialism and the capitalist system, which causes the marginalization of all human senses in favor of the sense of ownership alone. This exception stands in contrast to the essence of true human activity according to Marx, which is the free activity that the individual owns, through it, what he produces, the activity that enables the individual to realize his physical and spiritual needs as ends in themselves. The current situation is quite the opposite, “Under capitalist conditions […] both life activity and productive life appear to be a means of satisfying a need, which is the need to maintain physical existence.” In other words, by limiting the human material dimension to the body only, humans lose an important part of their existence. A review of the connection between somatic materialism and capitalism is not limited to this chapter, but rather Eagleton addresses it in one way or another in the rest of the chapters.
The fourth chapter revolves around Nietzsche and metaphysics in general. It is not difficult to realize the centrality of Nietzsche in what Eagleton proposes, especially in light of his philosophy about the will to power or his sharp attack on various “self-evident” concepts such as truth, logic, religion, philosophy, objectivity, and others. Indeed, it is perhaps self-evident to realize the centrality of Nietzsche in particular in his exaltation of the body and his denigration of the mind, thought, and soul. He wonders in The Gay Science, for example, whether philosophy is merely a misunderstanding of the body (as Nietzsche points out, this is one of the reasons why traditional philosophers despise the body and physical desires) or whether the mind is nothing more than a product of physical desires. Whereas the mind becomes a means of simplifying the complexity of the world and helping the individual to meet his needs according to what has been given. In this context, the mind becomes subordinate to and moved by the body, not the other way around.
The fifth – and final – chapter of the book is also related to one of the common dimensions that distinguish us humans from other creatures, which is language. The philosopher of this chapter is Wittgenstein, and the key idea is that “our various ways of speaking are related to the forms of our practical life,” whereas this speech can only be logical or meaningful within the contexts of these forms. Eagleton concludes that this connection between language and practical life means that language has a dual material role. It is a tangible medium through which we can first perceive the world, and secondly, it is a means of expressing what is going through us. This means that “language is more than a language,” and that “having it means the ability to enter a world.” In other terms, language cannot be limited to its communicative role nor to its mediation between us and the world. Rather, we must reconsider the human actor through whom language only exists in order to realize that language itself is a means of interacting with this world. Eagleton concludes this chapter by addressing the relationship of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language to somatic materialism, while Eagleton not only links language to physical needs, but also goes beyond the idea to link physical needs and knowledge in general, or between knowledge and physical instincts/responses.
Although the book is relatively small in size compared to its subject, it is full of wisdom and knowledge. Eagleton does not limit himself to reviewing the various concepts of materialism nor dealing with the philosophy of Marx, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein about it, but rather goes beyond that to analyze it comparatively before clarifying its weaknesses and strengths in the light of his own philosophy. Furthermore, in light of his claim of the centrality of somatic materialism these days, Eagleton attempts to present a contemporary reading of the concept of materialism, what it means and what it entails, especially with regard to its role in re-understanding the world around us and thus working towards changing it.
