Reify
Latin rēs, thing + facere, to make
Reify (verb) means to make something abstract more concrete or real; to treat an idea, concept, or abstraction as if it has material or physical existence. The noun reification names the process of treating something abstract as material or concrete; the act of making something "thing-like."
First principles
To reify is to make a thing out of something that is not a thing.
It takes an idea, a relation, or a process and handles it as an object with edges, weight, and a fixed shape. That can be a mistake, when something living and changing is treated as fixed and natural. It can also be a practice: a sanctuary, a gym, or a daily devotion gives an inner truth a body you can return to.
At its core, it asks:
- What is being treated as a thing?Name the idea or process that has been given the shape of an object.
- Is it really fixed?Check whether it is a process that only looks solid because it has a name.
- What does the form make possible?A concrete form can hold an idea so it can be practiced, or freeze it so it can no longer change.
Etymology
- rēs
- thing, matter
- facere
- to make, to do
The word reify comes from the Latin rēs meaning "thing" or "matter" and the suffix -ify, "to make," which came through Old French -ifier and ultimately from the Latin facere, "to make" or "to do." Combined, they form "to make into a thing." Reify is a back-formation from reification, first attested around 1846 as a calque of the German Verdinglichung, with Latin rēs standing in for German Ding, "thing."