Incorporeal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Incorporeal, from Latin, means without the nature of a body or substance. The idea of the incorporeal refers to the notion that there is an incorporeal realm or place, that is distinct from the corporeal or material world. Incorporeal beings are not made out of matter in the way a physical, material being exists. The idea of the immaterial is often used in reference to God or the Divine. God has at times been carefully defined as the Prime Mover or First Cause that exists in an incorporeal or intelligible realm that transcends both space and time, especially in the physical realm.
Many philosophers have referred to the incorporeal idea. Most notable are Plato's claims about the realm of immaterial, perfect Forms, and Plotinus is a NeoPlatonist with similar ideas to the unchanging and perfect realm, in contrast to a physcial world of change and flux. Concepts in mathematics have also been considered by some to have an incorporeal nature. Berkeley's notion of immaterialism is also similar.
The concept of incorporeal beings can also be seen in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, in which an incorporeal creature is similar to a spirit; a creature with no physical body, much like a ghost.
