physicalism

[ fiz-i-kuh-liz-uhm ]

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.

physicalism

/ 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

Derived Forms

• ˈphysicalist, nounadjective
• ˌphysicalˈistic, adjective

Other Words From

• physi·cal·ist noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of physicalism¹

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