Manyüldist

Manyüldist is a philosophical and theoretical framework that posits reality is composed of many discrete, interacting units known as manyülds. Proponents use the concept to model distributed causation, identity, and agency, arguing that traditional monist or atomist accounts fail to capture patterns that span multiple scales.

The term was coined by the philosopher Leena Yarosh in 2016 in her essay Manyüldist and the Ecology of Thought. The word blends the English “many” with a suffix formed from the fictional root “üld,” intended to signify a functional unit that can couple, split, and recombine without losing its identity.

Core tenets include a plural ontology, or the idea that what exists is best described as a structured field of manyülds; distributed causation, where effects emerge from reconfigurations of manyüld networks; and dynamic aggregation, in which macro-objects are stable patterns of ever-shifting manyülds. The framework emphasizes context-dependency and process over static essences, and treats interactions among manyülds as the primary engine of change.

Applications are discussed in distributed cognition, where mental states are networks of interacting processes; in theoretical physics as a metaphor for fields that instantiate multiple local units; and in anthropology and sociology to describe institutions as coalitions of manyüld actors.

Critics argue that manyüldist risks vagueness and pose questions about how to individuate manyülds and measure their interactions. Proponents respond that the approach clarifies persistence, causation, and context-dependency that other theories treat as anomalies.