“物质是世界的本原”质疑

Query Matter is the Essence of the World

“本原”一词源于古希腊哲学关于万物始基的讨论，主要是指构成万物的基本要素、成分。现行哲学教科书提出“物质是世界的本原”，具有明显的逻辑矛盾。物质就其内涵而言是对万物的共同特性的抽象，就其外延来看则是万物的总和。所以，物质是世界的“本质”，而不是世界的“本原”。

The word ' essence' stemmed from philosophy in ancient Greece of the discccssion on the beginnings of all matters which consisted of the essential conponents. It is obviously logical contradiction to what the newly published philoslphy text books put forward 'Matter is the essence of the world'. As far as the connotation of matters is concerned,it is abstract for all the common characteristics of matters, and the sum total from denotation. Therefore, matter is the substance of the world rather than essence of the world.