Eliminativication

The program of eliminating from our ontology any entity, property, or process that cannot be reduced to the vocabulary of the natural sciences. It includes eliminative materialism (eliminating mental states like beliefs, desires, and consciousness as “folk psychology”), eliminativism about free will, and eliminativism about meaning. Eliminativication is common in radical reductionist philosophy and neuroscience. Critics argue that it is a form of intellectual violence: it denies the reality of lived experience. Moreover, eliminativication is self‑refuting: if beliefs don’t exist, then the belief in eliminativication doesn’t exist either.

Eliminativication Example: “The eliminativicator declared that ‘thoughts don’t exist, only neurons.’ When asked what he was thinking, he said ‘neural firing patterns.’ He had eliminated himself from the conversation.”

Eliminativication by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal June 6, 2026