(p. 282) Materialists[2-208] were not aware of scientific knowledge of material structures, such as electron theory which demolished the erroneous theory of the elimination of matter and which clearly bears out the correctness of the materialism of dialectical materialism. Through the discoveries of modern natural science, such as the discovery of electron theory, certain material properties which appeared in old material concepts (weight, hardness, impermeability, inertia, etc.) were shown to exist only in certain material forms and not in others. Facts like these eradicated the one-sideness and narrowness of old materialism’s approach to material concepts and nicely demonstrated the correctness of materialism’s recognition of the world.[2-209] The materialist viewpoint of former dialectical materialism perceived the unity of the material world through diversity, that is the unity of the diversity of matter; and there is not the slightest contradiction between this materialist viewpoint and the fact that the movement and change involved in the transformation of matter from one form to another are eternal and universal. Ether, electrons, atoms, molecules, crystals, cells, social phenomena, phenomena of thought – these are various stages of the development of matter, are various temporary forms in the history[2-210] of the development of matter. The deepening of scientific research, and the discovery of all manner of forms of matter (the discovery of the diversity of matter) only serves to enrich the content of the materialist viewpoint of dialectical materialism; and is there any contradiction in that? It is necessary to make a distinction between the materialist viewpoint of philosophy and the materialist viewpoint of natural science, and this is so because the two do have differences which range from minor to extensive; however, [p. 204] they are not mutually contradictory, for matter in the broad sense incorporates matter in the narrow sense.
The materialist viewpoint of dialectical materialism does not acknowledge that there are so-called non-material things in the world (independent spiritual things). Matter exists eternally and universally and is limitless in both time and space. If there is something in the world which has “always been thus” and “everywhere is the same” (like its unity) then that something is so-called objectively existing matter referred to by philosophy. If things such as consciousness are observed employing the thoroughgoing insights of materialism (that is, the insights of materialist dialectics), then so-called consciousness is no different; it is only[2-211] a form of matter in movement, it is a particular property of the material brain of humankind. It allows material processes external to consciousness to be reflected in consciousness, which is a particular property of the material brain. Accordingly, it is apparent that it is conditional when we make a distinction between matter and (p. 283) consciousness and moreover oppose the one to the other; that is to say, it has significance only for the insights of epistemology. Because consciousness and thought are only properties of matter (brain), the opposition of knowledge and existence, that is, the opposition between matter that knows and matter that is known,[2-212] cannot be sustained. In this way, the opposition of subject and object departs from the realm of epistemology and is without any significance. If, beyond epistemology, consciousness and matter are still placed in opposition, this is tantamount to foresaking materialism. In the world there is only matter and its various manifestations; and signified by this are the following – the subject itself is matter, the so-called materiality of the world (matter is eternal and universal), the objective reality of matter, and matter as the origin of consciousness. In a word, matter encompasses everything in the world. The saying goes, “Unity belongs to Si-ma Yi”; but we say, “Unity belongs to matter”. This is the principle of the unity of the world.
What has been discussed above is the theory of matter of dialectical materialism.
[p. 205] The first fundamental principle of dialectical materialism is its theory of matter; namely, the recognition of the materiality of the world, the objective reality of matter, and that matter is the origin of consciousness. This principle of the unity of the world has already been explained in the previous section “On Matter”.