Matter is an objective reality that can be reflected by people's consciousness without being transferred by people's consciousness. "Independence from human consciousness" means that matter has objective reality. Whether people feel or admit its existence, it is objective and independent of people's will. "Can be reflected by people's consciousness" means that matter is knowable and can be reflected and recognized by people.

Quoting Lenin's famous words highly summarizes the definition of matter in philosophy: first, objective reality is the only feature of matter; Second, matter is not transferred by human consciousness; Third, matter can be reflected by people's consciousness.

The concept of matter in philosophy is different from that in natural science.

The concept of matter in natural science only involves the specific characteristics of material form in nature; The philosophical concept of matter summarizes the similarities and differences of all concrete forms of matter in the world, that is, objective reality.

There are differences and connections between the philosophical concept of matter and the concrete form of matter;

First, the two are closely related. Matter is summarized and abstracted from all things, that is, concrete material forms, and is the essential attribute of all things. If we leave everything and concrete material forms, there will be no matter. It can be seen that matter only exists in a specific material form, and everything is a specific material form and a concrete manifestation of matter.

Second, there is a difference between them. What matter generalizes and abstracts is only the * * * identity characteristic of concrete material form, and concrete material form has its own individual attributes besides the only characteristic of this * * * identity, that is, objective reality. Therefore, we can't substitute material for concrete material forms, otherwise we won't see the richness of the world; Similarly, we can't replace matter with concrete material forms, otherwise it will obliterate the materiality of the world. Matter is immortal and exists forever, while concrete material forms exist and die.

Third, the relationship between matter and concrete material form is the relationship between individuality and individuality, generality and individuality, abstraction and concreteness, rather than the relationship between the majority and the minority, the whole and the part.

The importance of nature:

Everything in nature is formed and developed according to its own internal laws, has its own origin and development history, and is an integral part of a unified material world. There is no God in the universe, and of course there will be no activities of God and the gods to create the world. (2)

Materiality of human society;

First, human society is the product of the long-term development of the material world.

Humans are a special biological group evolved from ancient apes. In the evolution from apes to humans, labor played a decisive role. Labor creates human physiological structure and forms the division of labor between hands and feet. Labor turned the ape brain into a human brain, forming language and consciousness; Labor makes people form social ties and social relations. Therefore, labor has created people and created human society.

Secondly, human society is essentially an objective material system. The basic elements that constitute the material living conditions of society are geographical environment, population factors and mode of production. These three are objective material elements. The objectivity of these elements reflects the materiality of human society. Third, the world is a material world, and its unity lies in its materiality. Fourth, we should overcome the error of the idealistic view of history to the objectivity of human society. Regarding the objectivity of human society, there is a view that the change of social life and social development are determined by people's wishes, goals and motives, especially the will of excellent people plays a decisive role. This view exaggerates the role of consciousness in social life, denies the objectivity of social life, and is a manifestation of subjective idealism. There is also a view that God's will determines the changes of society and the fate of mankind, which is the expression of creationism in the view of social history. It denies the objectivity of society and belongs to objective idealism.

Understanding the materiality of the world and the movement, change and development of the material world in time and space according to its inherent laws are the basis for correctly solving the basic problems of philosophy and adhering to materialism monism, and the premise for adhering to Marxist philosophy. The category of "matter" is the highest abstraction of materialist philosophy on the origin and unified foundation of the world. By acknowledging the materiality of the world, we adhere to the monism of materialism, thus distinguishing it from monism and dualism of idealism. Materialism itself also has a development process in its understanding of "matter". Marxism thoroughly penetrated the principles of dialectics and materialism into the solution of "material" problems and established the material view of modern materialism, which is not only opposite to idealism, but also different from old materialism in principle. (A) dialectical materialist view of matter and its significance

Marxist philosophy holds that matter is a philosophical category that marks the objective reality, which refers to everything that can be perceived from the sense, including people's practical activities that can be perceived from the sense. This objective reality exists independently of our spirit and is reflected by our spirit. The material category of modern materialism contains rich and profound connotations.

Second, matter can be known and knowable. Material is the object that people's feelings can reflect, not an elusive and unknown "thing in itself"

. There are only things in the world that have not yet been recognized, and there is nothing that will never be recognized. Therefore, we should understand the knowability of matter from the perspective of human cognition and practice. Only in this way can we draw a clear line with the agnosticism of old materialism.

Third, the material category is profoundly dialectical, which embodies the unity of materialism and dialectics. It is a philosophical category with the greatest * * * abstracted from the sum of objectively existing things and phenomena, which embodies the unity of opposites of individuality and * * *, particularity and universality, relativity and absoluteness, diversity and unity. No matter how ever-changing the concrete form, structure and attributes of matter are, the objective reality of matter is the same essence, which is constant at any time and anywhere.

Fourthly, the material view of Marxist philosophy embodies the unity of materialistic view of nature and materialistic view of history, and is the starting point of complete materialism, that is, thoroughness. Marxist philosophy not only sees the materiality of nature, but also reveals the materiality of human society on the basis of practice, establishes the materialistic principle of unified explanation of nature and historical process, realizes the unity of materialistic view of nature and materialistic view of history, and makes materialism a thorough and complete theory. This is of great significance to the development of materialism and even the whole philosophy.

(2) Modern significance

According to the achievements of modern scientific research, the concept of matter has been recognized by most people in the field of natural science, and the Marxist view of matter insists on the primacy of matter. Objective reality is the general essence of matter, which is expressed through movement. Motion is the mode of existence and fundamental attribute of matter, and stillness is a special state of motion. The existence and development of matter is the unity of absolute motion and relative stillness. Moving matter takes time and space as its form of existence, and matter cannot be separated from movement and time and space. The matter moving in time and space shows infinite and diverse forms. There is no end to man's understanding and transformation of matter. Modern natural science's research on the form, structure and attributes of matter has greatly deepened and enriched Marxist views on matter, movement and time and space. Specifically, we can use this as a tool to grasp the essence of things in methodology and establish a material and scientific world outlook.