History of Materialism and Critique of Its Present Importance

History of Materialism and Critique of Its Present Importance (German: Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart)[1] is a philosophical work by Friedrich Albert Lange, originally written in German and published in October 1865 (although the year of publication was given as 1866).

[3] Adopting the Kantian standpoint that we can know nothing but phenomena, Lange maintains that neither materialism nor any other metaphysical system has a valid claim to ultimate truth.

For empirical phenomenal knowledge, however, which is all that humans can look for, materialism with its exact scientific methods has done most valuable service.

[4] He also mentioned Blanqui's L'Eternité par les astres, which discussed the thesis of an Eternal Return.

[5] At one time Nietzsche planned to write a dissertation on the notion of organism in Kant's philosophy (letter to Paul Deussen[6]).