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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mon·ism

Audio Help [mon-iz-uh

m, moh-niz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Philosophy.

a.	(in metaphysics) any of various theories holding that there is only one basic substance or principle as the ground of reality, or that reality consists of a single element. Compare dualism (def. 2), pluralism (def. 1a).

b.	(in epistemology) a theory that the object and datum of cognition are identical. Compare pluralism (def. 1b).

2.	the reduction of all processes, structures, concepts, etc., to a single governing principle; the theoretical explanation of everything in terms of one principle.

3.	the conception that there is one causal factor in history; the notion of a single element as primary determinant of behavior, social action, or institutional relations.

[Origin: 1860–65; < G Monismus. See mon-, -ism

]

—Related forms

monist, noun

mo·nis·tic

Audio Help [muh-nis-tik, moh-] Pronunciation Key, mo·nis·ti·cal, adjective

mo·nis·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Monism

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mo·nism Audio Help (mō'nĭz'əm, mŏn'ĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. Philosophy

The view in metaphysics that reality is a unified whole and that all existing things can be ascribed to or described by a single concept or system.
The doctrine that mind and matter are formed from, or reducible to, the same ultimate substance or principle of being.

mo'nist n., mo·nis'tic (mō-nĭs'tĭk, mŏ-) adj., mo·nis'ti·cal·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
monism

"the philosophical doctrine that there is only one principle," 1862, from Mod.L. monismus, from Gk. monos "alone." First used in Ger. by Ger. philosopher Baron Christian von Wolff (1679-1754).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

monism
noun
the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element [ant: pluralism]

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
monism [(moh-niz-uhm, mon-iz-uhm)]

A position in metaphysics that sees only one kind of principle whereas dualism sees two. On the question of whether people's minds are distinct from their bodies, for example, a monist would hold either that mental conditions are essentially physical conditions (materialism), or that bodies depend on minds for their existence (idealism).

[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Monism

Mon"ism\, n. [From Gr. ? single.]

1. (Metaph.) That doctrine which refers all phenomena to a single ultimate constituent or agent; -- the opposite of dualism.

Note: The doctrine has been held in three generic forms: matter and its phenomena have been explained as a modification of mind, involving an idealistic monism; or mind has been explained by and resolved into matter, giving a materialistic monism; or, thirdly, matter, mind, and their phenomena have been held to be manifestations or modifications of some one substance, like the substance of Spinoza, or a supposed unknown something of some evolutionists, which is capable of an objective and subjective aspect.

2. (Biol.) See Monogenesis, 1.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

monism

Mon`o*gen"e*sis\, n. [Mono- + genesis.]

1. Oneness of origin; esp. (Biol.), development of all beings in the universe from a single cell; -- opposed to polygenesis. Called also monism. --Dana. --Haeckel.

2. (Biol.) That form of reproduction which requires but one parent, as in reproduction by fission or in the formation of buds, etc., which drop off and form new individuals; asexual reproduction. --Haeckel.

3. (Biol.) The direct development of an embryo, without metamorphosis, into an organism similar to the parent organism; -- opposed to metagenesis. --E. van Beneden.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

monism

monism: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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