What is the difference between materialism and historical materialism? Please give a popular explanation.

1, "philosophy" is the knowledge about "world outlook"; That is, a holistic and systematic view of the "world" we live in; That is, to study the relationship between human beings and the whole "world";

2. The "world" has two levels. First, the whole "nature"; Second, the whole "human society" is contained in "nature", so the relationship between man and the world has two levels, namely, the relationship between man and nature and the relationship between man and human society;

3. "Materialism" is the most basic ontological position; In other words, the world is material, and existence (matter) determines consciousness;

4. Looking at the relationship between human beings and human society from the basic standpoint of materialism, the basic starting point is "social existence determines social consciousness", and a series of theoretical viewpoints, namely "historical materialism", have been developed from this basic starting point.

In short, the so-called "historical materialism" is a series of theoretical theories that use the basic position of "materialism (dialectical materialism)" to examine the relationship between man and human society and the historical occurrence and development of the whole human society.

Because "traditional philosophy" mainly discusses the relationship between man and nature, it is generally classified as "natural philosophy" From this perspective, you can also understand "materialism" as an idea in this field.

Historical philosophy mainly discusses the relationship between man and human society. Therefore, you can regard historical materialism as a philosophical thought with materialistic position to explore the relationship between man and human society.