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[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Philosophy – III. Theology I. History of Religion In one of the earliest usages in the German language, materialism was described as an “error,” i.e. “when a person denies the spiritual substance and refuses to recognize any other than the physical” (J.G. Walch, Philosophisches Lexikon, 1726, quoted from HWP V, 1980, 842). This negative characterization is the result of the philosophical and theological belief in the existence of spiritual entities (God, soul, eternal life) that transcend matter by virtue of their essence. Materialism as a position opposing this view has not yet received adequate attention in the history of religion. This is also due to the fact that the writings of materialistic thinkers are mostly preserved in critiques and deprecatory acc…

[German Version] I. Philosophy One of the first detailed discussions of space and its nature was undertaken by Aristotle, who rejected the atomists’ assumption of a void (Atomism: I) as well as Plato’s identification of space and matter. Aristotle defined the position of a body as the inner boundary of the body surrounding it (e.g. in the case of water, the inner surface of its container). According to Aristotle, therefore, a void or empty space cannot exist within or the world or outside it.…