haecceitism
/hɛkˈsiːəˌtɪzəm/
haecceitism means the view that entities possess haecceity (individual essences or "thisness"). It carries an Arena rating of 1381, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, haecceitism ranks #2,319 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,580 of 14,456 for The Improbable, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
haecceitism is pronounced /hɛkˈsiːəˌtɪzəm/.
Why “haecceitism” is a great word
The metaphysical doctrine that entities possess non-qualitative, primitive individual essences, or haecceities, which constitute their unique 'thisness'. From haecceity (from the Medieval Latin haecceitas, 'thisness', from haec, the feminine of hic, 'this') + -ism (a suffix forming nouns of action or of belief). Unlike quidditism, which concerns the general properties or 'whatness' defining a kind, or anti-haecceitism, which denies non-qualitative individual essences altogether, haecceitism asserts an irreducible singularity beneath all classification. It is the exact curve of a scar, the precise weight of a pebble in your palm, the unrepeatable angle of light on a windowpane—a philosophical insistence that the world is ultimately made of particulars, not interchangeable instances, and that to be this is more than to be such.
Etymology
From haecceity + -ism.
noun
- The view that entities possess haecceity (individual essences or "thisness").“As I've argued, the conjunction of actualism, an attractive view about the nature of possibility, and the plausible thesis that some possible objects are disjoint entails haecceitism. Moreover, if, as the foregoing considerations suggest, there are no serious objections to haecceitism, then the charge that either actualism or the thesis in question is false because their conjunction entails haecce”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- haecceity 89% match — The essence of a particular thing that gives it its unique particularity; those qualities that make an individual this specific individual and not some other. vs haecceitism →
- thisness 89% match — A unique, concrete and irreducible essence or identity of a particular thing or individual, distinguishing it from others of the same kind. vs haecceitism →
- incorporealism 84% match — Existence without a body or material form; immateriality. vs haecceitism →
- seity 81% match — Something peculiar to oneself; personal peculiarity; individuality. vs haecceitism →
- panvitalism 81% match — Belief that all things are part of a single living universe. vs haecceitism →
- metaphysics 81% match — The branch of philosophy which studies fundamental principles intended to describe or explain all that is, and which are not themselves explained by anything more fundamental; the study of first principles; the study of being insofar as it is being (Latin: ens in quantum ens). vs haecceitism →
- thusness 81% match — The state of things being as they are. vs haecceitism →
- eventism 80% match — A monistic ontology of physics founded on events. vs haecceitism →