Reification may refer to:
Science and technology
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Reification (computer science), the creation of a data model
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Reification (knowledge representation), the representation of facts and/or assertions
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Reification (statistics), the use of an idealized model to make inferences linking results from a model with experimental observations
Other uses
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Reification (fallacy)
Reification (also known as concretism, hypostatization, or the fallacy of misplaced concreteness) is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction (abstract belief or hypothetical construct) is treated as if it were a concrete real event or physical ...
, the fallacy of treating an abstraction as if it were a real thing
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Reification (Gestalt psychology)
Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward T ...
, the perception of an object as having more spatial information than is present
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Reification (linguistics)
Reification in natural language processing refers to where a natural language statement is transformed so actions and events in it become quantifiable variables. For example "John chased the duck furiously" can be transformed into something like
: ...
, the transformation of a natural-language statement such that actions and events represented by it become quantifiable variables
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Reification (Marxism), the consideration of an abstraction of an object as if it had living existence and abilities
See also
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Concretization
In metaphysics, the distinction between abstract and concrete refers to a divide between two types of entities. Many philosophers hold that this difference has fundamental metaphysical significance. Examples of concrete objects include plants, Hum ...
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Objectification, the treatment of an entity (such as a human or animal) as an object
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