noun
- a person who believes that all space is filled with matter; one who rejects the existence of a vacuum
Usage: philosophy; physics
Examples
- Aristotle was a famous plenist who argued that nature abhors a vacuum.
- The plenist philosophers of the 17th century opposed the idea of empty space.
- Descartes, as a plenist, believed that all space must be occupied by some form of matter.
- The debate between plenists and vacuists shaped early modern physics.
- Many ancient plenists thought that even seemingly empty air was filled with invisible particles.