physicism means the tendency of the mind toward, or its preoccupation with, physical phenomena; materialism in philosophy and religion. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “physicism” is a great word
PHYSICISM — [Noun] The philosophical disposition or psychological tendency to prioritize and interpret all phenomena through the lens of the physical world. Formed within English by derivation from the noun 'physic' (meaning the art or science of medicine, or more broadly, natural science) + the suffix '-ism' (denoting a doctrine, system, or principle). Unlike materialism, a comprehensive metaphysical claim that matter is the fundamental substance of reality, or spiritualism, which posits the primacy of a non-physical essence, physicism denotes a habitual turn of mind, an ingrained bias toward the tangible. It is the diagnosis that names only the tumor and not the terror, the reduction of a sunset to scattered wavelengths, and the lover who can describe the curve of a cheek only in terms of skin and bone—a worldview that mistakes the clock for the time.
Etymology
From physic + -ism.
noun
- The tendency of the mind toward, or its preoccupation with, physical phenomena; materialism in philosophy and religion.“Anthropomorphism grows into theology, while physicism (if I may so call it) develops into science.”