Reification

When an abstraction (abstract belief or hypothetical construct) is treated as if it were a concrete, real event or physical entity—when an idea is treated as if had a real existence.

Examples:

  • _Dr. Simmons: I am working on a way to lengthen the human lifespan to about 200 years.

Misty: You are declaring war on Mother Nature, and Mother Nature always wins!_

Synonyms: abstraction, concretism, fallacy of misplaced concreteness, hypostatisation, pathetic fallacy [form of]