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Word of the Day – Acosmism

By February 9, 2019Word of the Day

Acosmism (noun)

ok-oz-miz-m

The doctrine that the universe does not exist, or that there is no universe distinct from God.

Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Sarah Austin (1793–1867), translator and writer. From German Akosmismus (1826 or earlier in G. W. F. Hegel, who apparently used it at first in unpublished work, and later (applied to Spinoza’s philosophy) in Encyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse (ed. 2, 1827) §59) from a- + Kosmos + -ismus.

Example sentences

“Given what we now know about the cosmos, it seems impossible that acosmism even still exists.”

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