noun
- the philosophical doctrine that all space is filled with matter and that a vacuum cannot exist
Usage: philosophy
Examples
- Aristotle’s plenism held that nature abhors a vacuum.
- The debate between plenism and atomism shaped early physics.
- Descartes advocated plenism in his mechanical philosophy.
- Medieval scholars often accepted plenism as scientific truth.
- The discovery of air pressure challenged traditional plenism.
- Plenism was gradually replaced by atomic theory.