Materialism in America essays

Materialism in America essays We are all materialistic, to one extent or another; but what are our motives when we pursue our materialism? Are we working towards happiness in our lives? Are we letting materialism become the most important part of our lives? Are there any emotional aspects of too much materialism? Through the American philosophy we learn that America is and has always been obsessed with material possessions. What is materialism? Materialism is the tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values. Lets face the facts; materialism is a major part of the world we live in, this is shown in the quote, "Materialism is fundamentally a doctrine concerning the character of the concrete natural world we inhabit" (Campbell). This explains that materialism is very important in the world we live in; so important that it is considered a doctrine of one's character. Keith Campbell shows that the more extreme materialistic individuals believe that the entire world is material when he says, "Extreme materialism asserts the real world is spaciotemporal and consists of material and nothing else" (Campbell). The world is nothing but an empty space consisting of material objects. Materialism is very important in the world we live in, and history shows that it always has been. Materialism has always been an important aspect in America's history, dating all the way back from the 18th century to the modern era. During the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment sparked up. The Enlightenment was Mankind's final coming of age, the emancipation of the human consciousness from an immature state of ignorance and error and the idea of materialism became very intriguing. The quote that best shows this would be, "One important movement in American philosophy during the 18th century was the importance of materialism, or the belief that all essential reality and phenomena are caused by physical matter" ("American Philosophy...