To demetaphysicalize

Question

How would you define "to demetaphysicalize"?For example: "The poet demetaphysicalizes these concepts."Does it make sense?Thank you for your help

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

It's not a standard word at all, and in fact it sounds pretty silly.

I suppose the idea would be

metaphysicalize - make something metaphysical
demetaphysicalize - make something not metaphysical

Clive

Nikoo · Answer

CliveIt's not a standard word at all, and in fact it sounds pretty silly.

OK. Thank you for your help and time.
Do you have any suggestions? I mean a substitute for this word.

Khoff · Answer

I think you'll have to explain what you want the word to mean before we can help you find a substitute.

Nikoo · Answer

Imagine that members of a tribe try to metaphysicalize the power of their leader and consider his features to be beyond the limits of nature. For example, they consider him to be the representative of *** or gods.

Now, imagine someone intends to discredit a concept or figure which has long been considered as a metaphysical concept and insert it in the context of natural or ordinary elements. Can we say he demtaphysicalizes the concept?

Thank you for your help.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

My feeling is that whenever you use that term, in whatever context, it is going to sound silly.
You need to explain your meaning without using the word.

I suggest you look closely at the meaning of 'metaphysics'. It's basically a branch of philosophy.

Clive
.

Nikoo · Answer

Hi,
I'll check the word.
Thank you Clive.

CalifJim · Answer

Nikooimagine someone intends to discredit a concept or figure which has long been considered as a metaphysical concept and insert it in the context of natural or ordinary elements. Can we say he demetaphysicalizes the concept?

Yes. That's often just what it is, but it need not be an attempt to discredit a metaphysical concept. From the viewpoint of the writer it may just be an attempt to explain a metaphysical concept with some kind of reductive approach. I assume you need this term for a rather heavy-going philosophical discussion. You certainly won't get far using it in an everyday conversation. You might enjoy this, which I found on the internet:

“Dedivinize” is just one term in a catalogue of terms that describes western
modernity. They all imply a certain negation and a definite loss, an
absorption of human essence into the nonhuman. In this catalogue can include
the following terms: “deconstruct”, “depersonalize”, “desanctify”,
“desacralize”, “dehumanize”, “demystify”, “demetaphysicalize”, “debunk”,
“disenchantment” and, “disillusionment”, and of course the omnipresent and
omnivorous “deconstruct”. I have chosen these terms because of this
linguistic curiosity: the suffixes "de: and "dis" but I can open the flood
gates of terminology that describe this loss: alienation anomie the crisis
of man crisis of meaning-neutralization-isolation-standardization. One
should notice that the terms do not only refer to a loss of essence, but
also to a process of flattening, of leveling down of all complex dimensions
and of the emergence of one-dimensional man.
________________________

Also, note that the word is sometimes hyphenated, and it sometimes appears in quotes, as if it weren't yet an accepted word.

... the renewed tendency of contemporary science to de-metaphysicalize questions which had become purely metaphysical. (Pierre Kerszberg; Critique and Totality)

... it is also an aim of this book to “demetaphysicalize” the libertarian view. (Mark Balaguer, Free Will as an Open Scientific Problem)

... it shows the way to demetaphysicalize logic without psychology (without invoking, say, an Intentional Realm, a realm of sui generis psychological acts and objects). (Kelly Dean Jolley; The Concept "Horse" Paradox and Wittgensteinian Conceptual Investigations)

CJ

Nikoo · Answer

Dear CalifJim,

I don't know how to thank you.
This is really amazing.

Thank you so much.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Philosophers are somewhat notorious for inventing their own words.

Clive

Khoff · Answer

Oh, Jim, you put us all to shame!!

To demetaphysicalize

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