The History and Philosophy of Materialism

'... Charles T. Wolfe and John Symons have published a collection of considerable ambition: thirty-one chapters covering all periods in the history of philosophy and extending into diverse cultural and geographical areas. The stated objective is to offer English-speaking readers the first history of materialism since the translation of Fredrich-Albert Lange's work in 1925. ... The result is more than a simple compilation of current knowledge on materialisms: it is a work that constantly questions its object and the possibility of tracing its history.' - Guillaume Coissard, Astérion

'One of the book's great merits, in short, is to shatter the monolithic, largely fantasized image of Materialism, not to leave it in ruins but to experiment with new ways of recomposing and reinventing it, that is to say, also to restore to it, in the present, the critical force that is rightfully its own. The History and Philosophy of Materialism is ultimately a decisive contribution to the ongoing effort to practice the history of philosophy differently, that is to say, to write other histories of it, in the plural.' - Matthieu Renault, Actuel Marx 2025/2 n° 78