Metaphysical materialism is also called mechanical materialism. There is a broad sense and a narrow sense. The broad sense refers to the materialistic philosophy that explains the universe from a metaphysical point of view. In a narrow sense, it refers to the second form of materialism in the history of western philosophy, that is, materialistic philosophy in the 16th to 18th centuries. Metaphysical materialism, also known as mechanical materialism, is the second form of materialism development. A philosophical school that explains nature and epistemology from an isolated, static and one-sided point of view. Take western European metaphysical materialism in the 17th and 18th centuries as a typical example. It recognizes that the world is material and has played an active role in the struggle against idealism and religious theology. For example, Hobbes, a British materialist philosopher, believes that the object of philosophy is an objective material entity, and the object is something that does not depend on people's thoughts. It is the basis of all changes in the world. There is nothing in the world except objects with extensiveness. From this point of view, he demonstrated the material unity of the world and criticized religious theology and Descartes' dualism. Metaphysical materialism also contains some dialectical factors.

Metaphysical materialism has four characteristics and limitations: first, it is mechanical, which attributes all movements to mechanical movements, attempts to explain all phenomena from a mechanical point of view, and even regards people and animals as machines governed by mechanical laws, so metaphysical materialism is also called mechanical materialism; Second, metaphysics, which regards everything as isolated from each other and does not develop and change in essence; Third, intuition, which treats the world and understanding, lacks practical views; Fourth, incompleteness: it only insists on materialism in the view of nature, but falls into idealism in the view of history, and regards spirit as the decisive force of social development.

Deny that nature is an interconnected and unified whole, deny the development and changes caused by contradictions within things, and think that nature and human society are essentially unchanged. Even if there are changes, it is only the increase or decrease of quantity or the change of place, without qualitative change or leap; Without human sociality, we do not understand the dependence of cognition on practice, regard cognition as an intuitive, negative and passive reflection, and regard abstract rationality, nature, emotion and other phenomena belonging to social consciousness as the decisive force of social development. Metaphysical materialism is to meet the needs of the development of capitalism, accompanied by the emergence of modern natural science, and it is the bourgeois world outlook and methodology in the rising period. With the development of social history and science, it is replaced by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, that is, Marxist philosophy.

Metaphysical materialism is dualism, which is both materialistic and idealistic, so it has the limitations of historical idealism and dualism. At the same time, metaphysical materialism is also called mechanical materialism, and mechanization is one of its limitations. However, metaphysical materialism is an agnosticism that insists on materialism, so agnosticism is not its limitation. Therefore, the main limitations of metaphysical materialism are: historical idealism, mechanicality and dualism.