immaterialism

American  

[im-uh-teer-ee-uh-liz-uhm] / ˌɪm əˈtɪər i əˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. the doctrine that there is no material world, but that all things exist only in and for minds.

2. the doctrine that only immaterial substances or spiritual beings exist.

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immaterialism British  

/ ˌɪməˈtɪərɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the doctrine that the material world exists only in the mind

2. the doctrine that only immaterial substances or spiritual beings exist See also idealism

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Other Word Forms

• immaterialist noun

Etymology

Origin of immaterialism

1705–15; immaterial + -ism, modeled on materialism

Explanation

If the philosophy of immaterialism is true, then the screen you're reading this on is not really there. Neither is chocolate, which seems like a huge loss — but if you can still enjoy its taste, scent, and smoothness, what's the difference? A philosopher named George Berkeley came up with the idea of immaterialism in the early 1700s. He was concerned that previous philosophers assumed the existence of physical objects outside of our minds, but nobody could actually prove it. All we have to go on, he said, is our perception of things, so why not say that these so-called physical objects are just our perceptions? What is chocolate, apart from someone's mind perceiving a certain taste, color, weight, and texture? Nothing, according to Berkeley.

Example Sentences

As George Berkeley, the 18th-century philosopher of immaterialism, might have asked: What are windows without window shoppers to see them?

From New York Times • Nov. 25, 2020

Spark hints at dark spiritual convulsions, a "new world which was arising out of the ashes of the old, avid for immaterialism."

From Time Magazine Archive

The true bibliophile is obsessed by a kind of dialectical immaterialism.

From Time Magazine Archive

But inasmuch as the notion of metaphysics itself seems to exclude materialism, the vital alternative is that of immaterialism.

From International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume I Philosophy and Metaphysics by Various

Though the theology of Joseph Smith insists that immaterialism is an absurdity, yet it permits no overlapping of the earthly and the spiritual.

From Joseph Smith as Scientist A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy by Widtsoe, John Andreas