thingness
Quality of being
Thingness is the quality of being a concrete, distinct object rather than an abstraction or process.
Philosophy uses it to discuss what makes something a thing—its physical presence, boundaries, or independent existence.
More casually, it captures the tangible reality of objects: There's a certain thingness to vinyl records that streaming lacks.
Inherent essential nature
- ontologyStudy of existence's nature
- beingExisting as something
- natureInherent quality or disposition
- substancePhysical material with mass
core · identity · whatness · quintessence · constitution · kernel · particularity · individuation
Physical material with mass
- matterSpace-occupying substance with mass
- physicalityBodily, material quality
- corporealityQuality of having substance
- solidityFirmness of structure
texture · tangibility · palpability · concreteness · density · mass · substantiality · solidness
Reducing humans to things
- commodificationTransforming into sellable goods
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
- externalizationMaking internal things external
alienation · fetishization · concretization · substantiation · materialization · thinghood · externality · otherness
quiddity
Inherent essential nature
substance · core · identity · whatness · quintessence · constitution · kernel · particularity · individuation · selfhood
substance
Physical material with mass
- matterSpace-occupying substance with mass
- physicalityBodily, material quality
- corporealityQuality of having substance
solidity · texture · tangibility · palpability · concreteness · density · mass · substantiality · solidness · heft
objectification
Reducing humans to things
- commodificationTransforming into sellable goods
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
externalization · alienation · fetishization · concretization · substantiation · materialization · thinghood · externality · otherness · instrumentalization
thingnessnothingness
Complete absence of existence
nonexistence · nonbeing · inexistence · absence · void
thingnessimmateriality
Absence of physical form
incorporeality · intangibility · abstractness · spirituality · ethereality
thingnesspotentiality
Capacity to develop
virtuality · possibility · latency · unreality · hypotheticality
thing, thought, nothing, things, thinking, anything, everything, something, rethink