Materialism can mean either a philosophical doctrine or an ethic of acquisitiveness. The latter is central to an understanding of consumerism. Debates over materialism in both senses may be traced back to the contrasting views of human nature held by Hobbes and Rousseau. More recent discussion of acquisitiveness involves analogies to the psychopathology of addiction, and the significance that commodities assume in the eyes of consumers. In fact, an anthropological perspective suggests that, in industrial societies, commodities are desired more for the social values they represent than for any inherent physical characteristics.
