Materialism, Spiritualism, Idealism

There have been three main senses of 'Matter' in the history of Philosophy--Logical, Metaphysical, and Epistemological, juxtaposed with which are Form, Spirit, and Mind, respectively. Accordingly distinguishable are three varieties of 'Materialism'--Logical, Metaphysical, and Epistemological, juxtaposed with which are Formalism, Spiritualism, and Idealism, respectively. Now, a significant example of Metaphysical Materialism is Feuerbach's inversion, of which Marx approves, of the traditional Spiritualist Heaven-Earth relation. Furthermore, Metaphysical Materialism and Epistemological Materialism are not necessarily identical. For, while the subjective dimension of any cognitive process is amenable to a Metaphysical Materialist rendering, e. g. entailing neural and cerebral processes, it is not so to an Epistemological Materialist one, in which Matter is always at the object pole. Thus, Marx's criticism of Feuerbach's privileging of Contemplation, on the grounds that it is a lapse into Idealism, fails because it is based on an equivocation, and expresses an inconsistency in his own use of 'Materialism'.