(reposted from an old blog 2/2015 Reification is the name for problems that arise when we imagine that a form corresponds to something in the real world in a useful way. All forms are approximations but some are more approximate than others. There is a strong tendency for a form to have a name, which furthers the impression that is somehow real. Words ending in "-ity" "-ist", "-ain" or "-ism" are generally great examples of references to forms that have no useful correspondence to anything in the real world. Such references can usually be corrected by changing the statement that contains the "-ism" term to refer to the actual group that (purportedly) holds some specific "-ism" belief. If such a group can't be identified, the word is a smoke screen for ignorance or an attempt to drum up support for a program that can't be rationally justified. Let's take "terrorism". Presumably, this is the program