Editing Materialism (section)

====Before Common Era====

[[File:Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia - Leucippus - Luca Giordano.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leucippus]] (4th century BC), father of [[atomism]] and teacher of [[Democritus]]. Painting by [[Luca Giordano]], circa 1653.]]
Materialism developed, possibly independently, in several geographically separated regions of [[Eurasia]] during what [[Karl Jaspers]] termed the [[Axial Age]] ({{Circa}}&nbsp;800–200&nbsp;BC).

In [[ancient Indian philosophy]], materialism developed around 600&nbsp;BC with the works of [[Ajita Kesakambali]], [[Payasi]], [[Kanada (philosopher)|Kanada]] and the proponents of the [[Cārvāka]] school of philosophy. Kanada became one of the early proponents of [[atomism]]. The [[Nyaya]]–[[Vaisesika]] school (c.&nbsp;600–100&nbsp;BC) developed one of the earliest forms of atomism (although their proofs of God and their positing that consciousness was not material precludes labelling them as materialists). [[Buddhist atomism]] and the [[Jainism|Jaina]] school continued the atomic tradition.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Berryman |first1=Sylvia |title=Ancient Atomism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atomism-ancient/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=5 June 2024 |date=2022}}</ref>

[[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek]] [[atomists]] like [[Leucippus]], [[Democritus]] and [[Epicurus]] prefigure later materialists. The Latin poem ''[[De Rerum Natura]]'' by [[Lucretius]] (99&nbsp;–&nbsp;c.&nbsp;55&nbsp;BC) reflects the [[mechanism (philosophy)|mechanistic]] philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus. According to this view, all that exists is matter and void, and all phenomena result from different motions and conglomerations of base material particles called ''atoms'' (literally "indivisibles"). ''De Rerum Natura'' provides mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as erosion, evaporation, wind, and sound. Famous principles like "nothing can touch body but body" first appeared in Lucretius's work. Democritus and Epicurus did not espouse a monist ontology, instead espousing the ontological separation of matter and space (i.e. that space is "another kind" of being).{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}}