physicalism

American  

[fiz-i-kuh-liz-uhm] / ˈfɪz ɪ kəˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. a doctrine associated with logical positivism and holding that every meaningful statement, other than the necessary statements of logic and mathematics, must refer directly or indirectly to observable properties of spatiotemporal things or events.

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physicalism British  

/ ˈfɪzɪkəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. philosophy the doctrine that all phenomena can be described in terms of space and time and that all meaningful statements are either analytic, as in logic and mathematics, or can be reduced to empirically verifiable assertions See also logical positivism identity theory

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Other Word Forms

• physicalist noun
• physicalistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of physicalism

From the German word Physikalismus, dating back to 1930–35. See physical, -ism

Example Sentences

So it's all materialism that's now sort of renamed physicalism.

From Salon • Apr. 21, 2024

Does consciousness reduce to physicalism, or is it fundamental?

From Science Daily • Oct. 10, 2023

As such, the discussion has been located squarely within a physicalism, an approach that equates the real world with the physical world.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

But projecting simple consciousness, in my view, actually contributes to an elegant solution to the mind-body problem which removes all the “epicycles” generated by physicalism and dualism—just like heliocentrism did to geocentrism.

From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2019

Indeed recent developments demonstrate that evil remains a stubborn concept in our culture, resistant to attempts to reduce it to pure "physicalism."

From Slate • Sep. 30, 2011