Reification (fallacy)

Reification (or reifying) is a type of mistake that people make when thinking about abstract concepts. It means to make something intangible (not physical like a tree or a car) into a physical thing. The mistake happens when people think of abstract things like ideas or beliefs as if they were physical objects. For example, someone might say "freedom doesn't exist" and this would be an example of reification, because freedom is an abstract concept, not a physical thing.