The term "matter" there is no universal definition that all scientists would recognize. Usually so generalized they call everything with which the real world surrounding us is filled - on Earth, in space, in ourselves and in society.
Matter exists objectively, that is, independently of us and our consciousness, but the senses and mind allow people to perceive and cognize matter.
Is there anything else in the world besides matter?
Of course have! In addition to the material, in the world a great many other objects - mental and spiritual. These are our thoughts, emotions, memory, dreams, desires and more.
True, sages and scientists have been arguing for more than one millennium whether all this can arise and exist without matter.
What is the main property of matter?
These are constant changes. Material objects move in space all the time and change over time.
Even if a person is sleeping, organs, fluids move in his body, some substances turn into others. Constant changes occur in any community - from small families to entire nations. In inanimate objects and atoms move.
Celestial bodies change their location chemical composition and can even disappear, turn into something else. Huge mountains change shape, substances move inside them. 
The symbol of stability is the earth’s firmament, and it restlessly tosses and turns on the ocean of liquid magma that supports it. Europe is sailing from North America at a speed of 2 centimeters per year. And our planet itself, as you know, rotates, changes on the surface and from the inside.
Where did the matter come from?
Most scientists adhere to the Big Bang theory. According to this model, 13-14 billion years ago, the entire Universe was concentrated in a tiny volume and had an unimaginably huge density and high temperature. This point exploded - began to expand sharply (it is not known why).
Elementary particles were formed, from them atoms, from atoms - stars, planets, and in general everything that forms the Universe. Whether matter existed before the Big Bang is unknown.
Are there places free of matter in the world?
Some parts of space seem “empty” to us, but in fact they are always occupied with some form of matter. There are two types of it - matter and field. A substance is composed of particles and can be in a solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma state. 
Between the accumulations of matter there are voids, but they are always completely filled with fields - electromagnetic or gravitational.
What is antimatter?
So called a substance from antiparticles - they have the same mass as ordinary ones, but their charges and other characteristics are directly opposite to ordinary ones. Almost every "normal" elementary particle open such a "double." But the substance, consisting of "doubles", has not yet been found either on Earth or in space. Perhaps all consists of ordinary matter.
Physicists manage to obtain antimatter artificially - in microscopic quantities and not for long (it breaks up). By the way, this is the most expensive substance on earth: 1 gram of anti-hydrogen would cost more than 60,000,000,000,000 (60 trillion) dollars.
Now they write a lot about dark matter? What is known about her?
Almost nothing. Moreover: there is no certainty that it exists. It's just that astronomers have inconsistencies in the calculations. So, in the 1930s, the speed of movement of one cluster of galaxies was measured, and it turned out to be much greater than expected from an estimate of its mass. 
Subsequent data also showed that something was wrong with the calculations of the mass of the Universe. I had to assume that there is “something” that makes up most of the mass of the universe. This “something” is invisible to the eye, transparent to electromagnetic waves and generally not detected by any means. The invisibility was called dark matter, its manifestations are intensely seeking, but so far to no avail.
Attempts to give a definition of matter in philosophy (lat. Materia-substance) proceeded from the need to solve the problem of an objective, universal basis, substance of separately infinitely diverse objects of the world around us, nature.
In ancient philosophy (Ancient India, China, Greece), the definition of matter was based on the concept of material (primary matter), from which all things are “molded”. In ancient philosophy, the first attempts to define such a concept were carried out by naive identification of matter with the elements, with water (Thales) or air (Anaximenes). Anaximander understood that one of the existing substances cannot be mistaken for matter as such. He transferred the being of primordial matter to the infinite past, highlighting a hypothetical, logically initial substance (apeiron, letters. From Greek. Infinite) with the only quality - to be primum. Heraclitus chose fire as the primary material both as a material and as a force, a source of continuous change. The dialectical natural philosophy (philosophy of nature) of Heraclitus was one of the first forms of solving the problem of the unity of matter both as a "material" and as a source of motion.
Democritus solved the difficulties of the problem of the unity of matter and motion, formulated by the Eleatics (first of all, Parmenides: being is one, motionless; there is nothing except being; there is no movement either, because there is nothing to move, there is no emptiness, incompleteness), in its atomism system. According to Democritus, there are two types of matter - atoms and void. Atoms (lit. with Greek. (Further) indivisible) - the material of bodies, emptiness - space for the movement of bodies. With the help of the atomistic hypothesis, the possibility of "building" infinitely diverse combinations of the original single-quality elements is explained. However, the decision of Democritus revealed only the possibility of objective diversity, composed of indivisible, identical atoms. The question of the actual transformation of things, of the dynamic stimulus, the engine of these innumerable combinations, remained open.
According to Aristotle, matter is only a universal possibility of object diversity ("that of which", an opportunity without any positive, physical qualities). The reality of material diversity, its stimulus and purpose is a form (idea), as a self-sufficient active principle. In other words, the ideal image, project (idea) of a thing turned out to be a target impulse, the ultimate cause of movement, transformation, formation of things in their concreteness and originality. Clay needed a potter - a demiurge, a god. The dualism of matter formulated by Aristotle - as a passive, suffering principle and spirit as the beginning of activity, creativity, for a long time determined the solution to the problem of matter in philosophy. In the Middle Ages, the Aristotelian dualistic concept, transformed in accordance with the religious teachings of Christianity and Islam, took a dominant position.
In the mechanistic materialism of modern times, the definition of matter is no longer based on the concept of material, but on the concept of basic, primary, unchanging properties common to all material objects. The substantial (lat. Substantia - something underlying), the material foundation of things includes a number of mechanical properties: extension, impermeability, figure, heaviness, movement. These properties are not for materialism of the 17th century. speculative assumptions, but are determined strictly geometrically and physically. However, the problem remains, which is the substrate, the carrier of these universal properties. Most often, indivisible atoms are recognized as such a carrier.
Descartes, in his theory of substances, removes the question of the carrier of primary properties, generally identifying matter with its only property - extent: "... The nature of matter, that is, of a body considered in general, is not that it is a solid, weighty, colored thing or in any other way exciting our feelings, but only in the fact that it is - a substance extended in length, width and depth. "
Both for ancient materialists and for mechanists, searches for the material substrate of everything concrete are characterized by three common features. First, matter is opposed to individual things, as something unchanging to changeable. Secondly, the definition is based on the criterion of objectivity: primary, determine the matter those properties, signs that lie outside of us, exist independently of us. Thirdly, material substance is discovered by finding a common primordial substance or a common primary attribute, the same for all individual material objects. As a result of such a “separation” of the material basis within each subject, it breaks up into two “halves” (matter and form; primary and secondary qualities); but these distinguished "halves" can no longer explain a single concrete subject.
In the philosophy of Bruno and Spinoza, a new definition of matter appears. As a substance, matter is the world as a whole (in relation to a separate subject), i.e. matter is equal to nature. ". The essence of the universe is one in the infinite and in any thing taken as a member of it. Thanks to this, the universe and any part of it is actually one with respect to substance" (Bruno). All things are determined to act by an external cause, and only Nature as a whole is the cause of itself, causa sui (Spinoza).
In the Enlightenment (18th century), Holbach in Diderot tried to connect the concepts of "matter - nature" and "matter - a combination of mechanical properties." For Holbach, the single, infinite nature of the Universe appears in a separate object as its special nature - a bunch of mechanical qualities of extension, mobility, divisibility, hardness, gravity, inertia. At the same time, Holbach and Didro discover an understanding of the most important shortcoming of all previous definitions of matter. Matter is just that which is reflected in our sensations, but with the addition: that which causes these sensations.
For Diderot, as well as for Feuerbach, it becomes quite clear that since it is impossible to reduce all the properties of matter to mechanical, and all forms of motion to mechanical motion, this means that the concept of matter is an abstract category that distracts their universal properties from all material objects and qualities or general characteristics of the laws of their development. But then the question arises: what is initially unity in thought (the pure being of an absolute idea) or material unity of objects?
The recognition of matter for the universal principle of things, for something essentially general in things is only one side of the definition of matter. To absolutize this side means to identify the abstract concept of matter with material reality itself.
In Marxist philosophy (Marx, Engels, Lenin), it is believed that the concept of matter can be defined only within the framework of the fundamental question of philosophy (about the primacy of being or consciousness, matter or idea), i.e. through the opposition of matter to consciousness (materialism - idealism). The Lenin definition of matter in its form has a cognitive character (from the side of the subject’s knowledge of the object): “Matter is a philosophical category for designating objective reality, which is given to a person in his sensations, which is copied, photographed, displayed by our sensations, existing independently of them” . Here, matter is determined through reflection in consciousness, apparently based on the fact that consciousness is the only quality that is relatively different from matter. Reflected in consciousness, an object exists twice: as an objective object of thought and as a thought about an object. Engels defines matter in a similar way: "We are distracted from the qualitative differences of things when we combine them, as bodily existing, under the concept of matter" ("Dialectics of nature").
In modern philosophy, on the one hand, there are tendencies to abandon the use of the general term “matter” as metaphysical, empty in content (as natural science abandoned it, replacing it with the concept of matter, force, energy, particle) - in positivism, and the desire to interpret this concept from the point of view of diverse forms of manifestation, the movement of matter (physical, chemical, biological, social) - in dialectical materialism.
(lat. materia - substance) is a philosophical category, which in a materialistic tradition (see Materialism) denotes a substance that has the status of the beginning (objective reality) in relation to consciousness (subjective reality). This concept includes two main meanings: 1) categorical, expressing the deepest essence of the world (its objective being); 2) non-categorical, within which M. is identified with the whole Universe. Historical and philosophical excursion into the genesis and development of the category "M." as a rule, it is carried out by analyzing the three main stages of its evolution, which are characterized by the interpretation of M. as: 1) things, 2) properties, 3) relationships. The first stage was associated with the search for a specific, but universal thing, which constitutes the fundamental principle of all existing phenomena. For the first time such an attempt to comprehend the world was made by Ionian philosophers (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), who thereby made fundamental changes to the mythological picture of the world. They came to the significant conclusion that behind the fluidity, variability and diversity of the world there is a kind of rational unity and order, so the task is to discover this fundamental principle, or beginning, - arche, which rules nature and is its essence. The role of such a fundamental principle of M. as a substance was performed by one or another substrate (lat. Sub - under and stratum - layer) - that which is the material basis of the unity of all processes and phenomena): Thales has water ("Everything is water, and the world is full of gods "), Anaximander has" apeiron "(literally" infinite "), Anaximenes has air. Each of the initials indicates a varied course of reasoning by their authors, who strive to largely find a single, but at the same time demonstrate a different level of philosophizing. Thus, the positions of Thales and Anaximenes do not go beyond the bounds of the visible world, for both water and air are substances, first of all, close to man in his daily experience and widespread in the natural world, although each of these primary substances may, in a sense, pretend on the status of a metaphysical entity, the original and determining all the principle of being. At the same time, an attempt to theoretically construct the world on such a substrate basis met serious difficulties, therefore Anaximander proposed a certain quality-free principle capable of acting as a building material for the mental design of the Universe as the basis of being. With this concept, Anaximander diverted thought from visible phenomena to a more elementary and inaccessible direct perception of a substance, whose nature, although it was more uncertain in comparison with the usual substances of empirical reality, was potentially closer to the philosophical category. As a result, Ionian philosophers expanded the context of mythological understanding by including impersonal and conceptual explanations based on observations of natural phenomena. Thus, the doctrine of the elements was the first natural philosophical strategy for determining the initial (arche) of the world, which seemed undifferentiated and unstructured. In the framework of the substantial approach, atomism, as the doctrine of the special structure of M., became a new strategy for interpreting the structure of the Universe. This concept was developed through the teachings of Anaxagoras on qualitatively different homeomeries to the representation of Leucippus and Democritus, according to which the world consists of uncreated and unchanging material atoms - a single substance, where their number is infinite. Unlike undifferentiated elements, atoms are already considered as differentiated, differing in quantitative characteristics - size, shape, weight and spatial arrangement in a void. Later, his teachings were developed by Epicurus and Lucretius. The atomistic version of the structure of the material world developed on the basis of revealing the general in it. As a result, atoms have become that rational means by which one can understand the mechanism of the universe. The rational meaning of M.'s material understanding is seen: firstly, in the fact that the existence of the natural world is in fact connected with the presence of some universal principles (naturally, possessing not absolute but relative character), endless combinations of which make up an inexhaustible set of observable objects. So, organic chemistry revealed four organogenic elements - (C) carbon, H (hydrogen), O (oxygen) and N (nitrogen), which were analogues of the four "roots" of Empedocles (fire, air, water, earth); secondly, in the material approach, despite its non-philosophical nature, they saw great ideological and methodological significance, for it oriented a person to a real search and study of the primary elementary structures that exist in nature itself, and not in the illusory world of absolute ideas. The second stage in the development of the category of M. is associated with the era of the New Age, the period of the birth of classical science, the purpose of which was to give a true picture of nature as such by identifying the obvious, obvious, experience-derived principles of being. For the knowing mind of this time, objects of nature were presented as small systems as original mechanical devices. Such systems consisted of a relatively small number of elements and were characterized by force interactions and rigidly determined bonds. As a result, the thing began to appear as a relatively stable body moving in space over time, the behavior of which can be predicted by knowing its initial conditions (i.e., coordinates and forces acting on the body). Thus, the science of the New Time did not qualitatively change the substantial idea of \u200b\u200bM., it only deepened it somewhat, because M., which is equal to substance, endowed with attributive properties that were identified in the course of scientific research. In this case, the universal essence of things is seen not so much in the presence of a single substrate, as in some attribute properties - mass, length, impermeability, etc. The real carrier of these attributes is this or that structure of the primary substance ("beginning", "elements", "corpuscles", "atoms", etc.). During this period, the concept of M. was developed, which can be quantified as mass. Such a concept of M. is found in the works of Galileo and in the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" of Newton, which sets out the foundations of the first scientific theory of nature. Thus, the special mechanical property of macrobodies - mass - becomes the defining feature of M. In this regard, weight acquires special importance as a sign of the materiality of the body, since mass manifests itself in the form of weight. Hence the subsequently formulated M.V. Lomonosov and Lavoisier, the law of conservation of M. as the law of conservation of mass, or weight, tel. In turn, D.I. Mendeleev in "Fundamentals of Chemistry" puts forward the concept of matter with its sign of weight as an identical category M. : "A substance, or M., is that, filling the space, it has weight, that is, it represents the masses, that is what the bodies of nature consist of and with which the movements and phenomena of nature are made." Thus, the second stage is characterized by the fact that: firstly, M. is interpreted within the boundaries of mechanistic thinking as the primary substance, the primary basis of things; secondly, it is determined first of all "by itself" outside of its relation to consciousness; thirdly, the concept of M. denotes only the natural world, and the social remains outside the brackets of this understanding. At the same time, the new European civilization was also saturated with diverse views that tried to overcome physicality as a defining attribute of M. As a result, this led to going beyond the boundaries of the traditional understanding of M., in the case when, for example, Locke or Holbach determined M. on the basis of fixation. relations of subject and object. The preparatory stage of the new interpretation of the category M. can be considered the concept of Marxism, which is being formed as a rationalist theory that assimilated Hegel’s dialectical method, and as a philosophical program for the metatheoretical support of disciplinary science (the result of the scientific revolution of the first half of the 19th century). Therefore, Marx and Engels revise the concept of primary matter, pointing to its concrete scientific, rather than philosophical, meaning; interpret M. already as a philosophical abstraction; determine the status of M. within the framework of the basic question of philosophy (on the relation of thinking to being); introduce practice as a criterion for cognition and the formation of concepts. Under the conditions of a fundamental revolution in the natural sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which radically changes a person’s ideas about the universe and its structure, one introduces M. as “that, acting on our senses, it causes us these or other sensations” (Plekhanov). According to Lenin’s position, M. is a philosophical category that denotes only the only universal property of things and phenomena — to be objective reality; this concept can be defined only through the attitude of M. to consciousness: the concept of M. "means epistemologically nothing else but: objective reality that exists independently of human consciousness and is displayed by it." In the framework of modern philosophy, the problem of M. fades into the background; only some philosophers and, to a greater extent, natural scientists continue to use in their activities the understanding of M. as the substrate primary basis of things, i.e. substances. Attempts were made to comprehend M. within the boundaries of the dialectical-materialistic analysis of signification practices (Kristeva's article, "meaning, dialectics") as that "there is no meaning", that "what is without it, outside of it and contrary to it." Moreover, this radical heterogeneity (matter / meaning) was determined simultaneously as a “field of contradiction”. Modern philosophy is focused on the construction of fundamentally new ontologies (see Ontology).
Definitions, meanings of the word in other dictionaries:
Philosophical Dictionary
Empirically, a material object is not a single existing thing, but a system of existing things. When several people see the same table at the same time, they all see it differently; thus, "this" table, which is supposed to be all ...
Philosophical Dictionary
In its most general form, it is “being that itself does not understand being” (J. Ratzinger). Aristotle: that which is able to take shape, the possibility of being. Plotinus: the limit of the collapse of all being, its complete "dispersal" to a state that defies any positive description or ...
Philosophical Dictionary
The concept of matter in philosophy began to take shape in antiquity. It was noticed by the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus that with the help of information about the origin of one substance, it is completely impossible to explain the origin of another.
Matter in philosophy
Human knowledge improved over time, improved understanding of the structure of bodies. Scientists have found that bodies are made up of atoms, which are something like very small “bricks”. A discrete map of the world existed until about the end of the nineteenth century - then being was presented as a specific interaction of discrete (minute) particles of substances.
A little later, completely new information about atoms was discovered. The important thing is that they are not simple particles (an electron was discovered), but very complex in their structure. We also note that new information has appeared that made it possible to consider the concept of a field differently. Recall that initially the field was perceived as the space surrounding any object. This did not contradict the knowledge that matter is matter, since the field was perceived as something like an attribute of matter.
It was later proved that this field is not only an attribute of an object, but also a kind of independent reality. Together with matter, the field becomes special. In this form, continuity, and not discreteness, becomes the main property.
Character traits matter:
Self-organization;
The presence of movement;
Ability to reflect;
Location in time and space.
Elements of the structure of matter traditionally include:
Wildlife;
Society;
Wildlife.
Any matter exhibits the ability to self-organize - that is, it is capable of reproducing itself without the participation of any external forces. Fluctuations are random deviations and fluctuations that are inherent in matter. This term is used to describe its internal changes. As a result of such changes, matter eventually passes into another, completely new state. Having changed, it can die completely or gain a foothold and continue to exist further.
Western society for the most part tends to idealism. This can be explained by the fact that materialism is traditionally associated with a material-mechanical understanding of matter. This problem is solvable thanks to dialectical materialism, the concept of which considers matter in the light of knowledge of natural science, gives it a definition, eliminates the necessary connection with matter.
Matter in philosophy is something that exists in the variety of specific systems, as well as formations, the number of which has no limit. Concrete forms of matter do not contain primary, unchanging and structureless substance. All material objects possess systemic organization, as well as internal orderliness. First of all, ordering is manifested in the interaction of the elements of matter, as well as in the laws of their motion. Thanks to this, all these elements form the system.
Space and time are universal forms of being of matter. Its universal properties are manifested in the laws of its existence.
The problem of matter in philosophy
Lenin defined matter on the basis of its relation to consciousness. He perceived matter as a category that exists in relationships, reflects sensations, but at the same time exists completely independently of them.
Matter in philosophy is rather unusually considered in. In this case, the concept of it is not strongly associated with questions about its structure and structure.
In there are two judgments that recount the basic concept of matter of philosophy:
Not all manifestations of matter are given in sensations;
Matter can be defined through consciousness, and it is consciousness that will play the decisive role in this ratio.
In defense of dialectical materialism:
In sensations, matter is given not only directly, but also indirectly. A person cannot perceive it completely, as it is limited in its sensitive ability;
Matter in philosophy is infinite and self-sufficient. Because of this, she does not need self-awareness.
The concept of matter as some in dialectical materialism characterizes its only substance, which has many properties, its own laws of structure, development, motion, and functioning.
The concept M. -one of the key in philosophy. There are several approaches to the concept of “matter”.
1) Materialistic. By the definition of V.I. Lenin, matter is a philosophical category for designating objective reality that exists outside and independently of human consciousness and is reflected by it. According to Marxist philosophy, matter is an infinite number of all objects and systems existing in the world, universal substance (that is, the basis of all things and phenomena in the world), a substrate of any properties, connections, relationships and forms of movement. Matter is primary and is a present being. Spirit, man, society - the product of matter.
2) Objective idealistic. Matter objectively exists as a product of the primary ideal (absolute) spirit, regardless of everything.
3) Subjective idealistic. Matter as an independent reality does not exist at all, it is only a product (a phenomenon - an apparent phenomenon) of a subjective (existing only in the form of human consciousness) spirit.
4) Positivist. The concept of “matter” is false, since it cannot be proved and fully studied with the help of experimental scientific research.
The elements of the structure of matter are: 1) not nature all levels (from submicroelementary - less than an atom - to the level of the Universe, the world as a whole); 2) wildlife of all levels (from pre-cellular to the level of the biosphere as a whole); 3) society (society) from the level of an individual to humanity as a whole.
Characteristic features of matter: 1) the presence of movement; 2) self-organization; 3) location in time and space; 4) the ability to reflect.
Traffic -is an integral property of matter. It arises from matter itself (from the unity and struggle of opposites embedded in it). It is comprehensive, that is, everything moves. It is constant, that is, always exists, the cessation of certain forms of movement is replaced by the emergence of new forms. Types of movement: mechanical, physical, chemical, biological, social. Types of Movement:1) qualitative - a change in matter itself, a restructuring of the internal structure and the emergence of new material objects and their new qualities. it happens dynamic - change of content within the old form and population -cardinal change in the structure of the object; 2) quantitative - the transfer of matter and energy in space.
Self-organization -creation, improvement, reproduction of oneself without the participation of external forces. It appears in the form fluctuations -random fluctuations and deviations constantly inherent in matter, as a result of which dissipative structure -new unstable state of matter. Dissip. structurecan develop in two ways: a) strengthening and turning into a new type of matter, subject to the influx of energy from the environment (entropy), with further development according to the dynamic type; b) decay and death, as a result of weakness, fragility of new ties, due to the lack of entropy. There is a doctrine of the self-organization of matter - synergetics -developer Ilya Prigogine (Belgian of Russian origin).
The location of matter in time and space. There are two main approaches to this problem. 1) Substantial (Democritus, Epicurus) - his supporters considered time and space as a separate reality, an independent substance along with matter, and, accordingly, the relations between them as intersubstantial. 2) Relational (from relatio - relation) (Aristotle, Leibniz, Hegel) - supporters considered time and space as relations formed by the interaction of material subjects. The main provisions of this approach: time - the form of being of matter, which expresses the duration of the existence of material objects and the sequence of changes (state changes) of these objects in the development process; space - the form of being of matter, which characterizes its extent, structure, interaction of elements within material objects and the interaction of material objects with each other; time and space are closely intertwined; what happens in space also happens in time, and what happens in time is in space. The second approach is confirmed by the theory of relativity by A. Einstein, according to which space and time are relative depending on the conditions of interaction of material bodies - an understanding of time and space as relations within matter.
Reflection -the ability of material systems to reproduce in themselves the properties of other material systems interacting with them. Material evidence of reflection is traces (of one material object on another): a person on the ground, soil on the shoe, reflection in the mirror, on the surface of the reservoir. Types of reflection: physical, chemical, mechanical, biological. Stage of biological reflection: irritability, sensitivity, mental reflection.Consciousness is the highest level (type) of reflection.According to the materialistic concept, consciousness is the ability of highly organized matter to reflect matter.
According to the materialistic approach, the universal property of matter is the determinism of all phenomena, their dependence on structural connections in material systems and external influences, on the causes and conditions that generate them. The interaction leads to a mutual change in bodies or their states and reflection. Historical development the properties of reflection leads with the progress of living nature and society to the appearance of its highest form - abstract thinking, through which matter as it were comes to the realization of the laws of its being and to its own purposeful change.
The development of the concept of matter in philosophy.In ancient philosophy (India, China, Greece) - based on the definition of M. - the concept of material (primary matter), from which all things are fashioned.
Four stages of the development of the concept of "matter":
1) Visual sensual performance. In ancient philosophy, identification with the elements (Thales - water; Anaximenes - air, Heraclitus - fire). In Heraclitus, the primary substance - fire - is both material and a source of continuous change. Everything that exists is a modification of these elements.
2) Material substance representation. Matter is identified with matter, atoms, with a complex of their properties. Democritus has two types of matter - atoms and void. Atoms are material, emptiness is space for movement. Aristotle - matter - the universal possibility of subject diversity. Descartes identifies M. With its only property - length. Bruno and Spinoza have a new definition of M. As a substance M. is the world as a whole, that is, matter \u003d nature. Spinoza generally avoids the term “matter” by applying substance. Holbach and Diderot - matter - this is what is reflected in our sensations, but with the addition: that which causes these sensations. For Diderot, as then for Feuerbach, it becomes clear that the concept of matter is an abstract category, distracting from all material objects their universal properties and qualities or universal features of their development.
3) Philosophical and epistemological representation. Materialism, Marxist worldview.
4) Philosophical substantial axiological representation. The origins of B. Spinoza. Spread from ser. XX century