substancecentered

Substance-centered is an adjective used to describe approaches, analyses, or theories that place substances—the basic, underlying entities—at the core of explanation. In this sense, a substance-centered perspective treats substances as primary units of analysis, with properties, relations, or processes seen as features or states of those substances rather than as independent drivers.

In philosophy, substance-centered theories prioritize concrete substances (or fundamental units of being) as the basic bearers of properties, and may contrast with process-centered or relation-centered views that emphasize events, changes, or relational structures. This stance is often discussed in debates about ontology and the nature of properties, persistence, and identity over time.

In social sciences and applied fields such as addiction studies or clinical practice, the term can describe approaches that focus on the substance itself as the central problem—emphasizing chemical properties, pharmacology, withdrawal management, and abstinence—often in contrast to person-centered methods that foreground individual experience, social context, and behavior. The label can also appear in critiques that argue for greater attention to persons, communities, or processes rather than to substances alone.

In information science and knowledge representation, a substance-centered approach might organize concepts around material or tangible entities rather than agents, actions, or relational networks, influencing taxonomy design and data modeling.

The term is not part of a single standardized theory and its precise meaning varies by discipline. As a descriptive label, substance-centered typically signals a focus on underlying substances as the primary units of analysis, with other phenomena viewed as properties, derivatives, or effects of those substances.