Matter is a philosophical category that marks something. It is what people perceive through senses and does not depend on our senses. It exists for us.

Substance is a philosophical category that marks objective reality. This objective reality is perceived by people through their senses. It exists independently of our senses and is copied, photographed, and reflected by our senses.

The commonly used definition of matter in Marxist philosophical theory so far is Lenin's discussion in "Materialism and Empirical Criticism", that is: "Substance is a philosophical category that marks objective reality. This objective reality Reality is what people perceive through their senses. It exists independently of our senses and is copied, photographed, and reflected by our senses.”

Chinese Marxist philosophers basically hold to this definition. Positive attitude. However, in fact, the Chinese expression of this definition may not accurately reflect Lenin's relevant thoughts, and it also affects our understanding of the connotation and theoretical value of Lenin's definition of matter, and thus created a widely popular understanding of Lenin's epistemological thoughts. misunderstanding.

Distinguish Lenin's relevant thoughts:

In "Materialism and Empirical Criticism", Lenin, like the Machists, understood sensation as through the eyes, ears, and nose The sensations obtained by the five sense organs of the body, tongue, and body, namely color, sound, smell, etc. However, Machists regard feelings as elements of the world, advocate that objects are composites of feelings, and deny that there is any material existence outside of feelings as their source. In other words, they regard feelings as a wall that separates people from the external world.

On the contrary, Lenin believed that feeling is a bridge connecting people with the external world. Feeling not only allows people to obtain information about the external world through colors, sounds, smells, etc., but also allows people to recognize the source of feelings. The external world exists objectively and has objective reality.

Throughout the entire book "Materialism and Empirio-Criticism", Lenin was not concerned with the specific five-sense sensations such as color, sound, smell, etc., but whether there is objective reality as the source of sensations outside of the five-sense sensations. This is the fundamental difference between him and the Machists.