Eliminative

Eliminative is an adjective derived from elimination. It describes something that serves to remove or is characterized by removal. The term appears across disciplines to denote processes that reduce options, discard possibilities, or purge substances. In biology and medicine, eliminative procedures refer to mechanisms that expel wastes or toxins from an organism. In logic, statistics, and cognitive science, eliminative methods prune unlikely hypotheses or features as part of analysis or problem-solving.

In philosophy, eliminativism or eliminativist materialism is a prominent use of the term. This view holds that aspects of human mental life described by common sense—such as beliefs, desires, and intentions—do not correspond to real, scientific brain states and may be eliminated or radically revised as neuroscience progresses. The best-known advocates are philosophers Paul and Patricia Churchland, though the scope and viability of eliminative materialism are widely debated. Proponents argue that folk psychology offers a false or incomplete theory of mind, while critics contend that it retains practical explanatory power in everyday life and scientific practice.

Outside philosophy, the word appears in general discussions of processes that eliminate options or candidates, such as elimination-based decision strategies, testing procedures, or data reduction techniques. Etymologically, eliminative comes from Latin eliminare, meaning “to drive out.”

See also: elimination, eliminativism, folk psychology, problem solving, hypothesis testing.