History of Materialism and Critique of Its Present Importance

History of Materialism and Critique of Its Present Importance is a work by Friedrich Albert Lange, originally written in German and published in October 1865, although the publication year is given as 1866. Lange greatly expanded it in a second edition in two volumes (1873–1875), and a three-volume English translation appeared between 1877 and 1881.

Starting from the Kantian standpoint that we can know only phenomena, Lange argues that neither materialism nor any other metaphysical system can claim ultimate truth. For empirical, phenomenal knowledge, which is all humans can attain, materialism and its exact scientific methods have rendered valuable service. Idealist metaphysics, though it fails to grasp the inner truth of things, has value as an expression of high aspirations, much like poetry and religion. Lange replaced the Kantian transcendental subject with the organism, and he held that this substitution made Kant's philosophy all the more convincing.