Literary notes about Immaterial (AI summary)
Writers employ "immaterial" both to denote a lack of significance and to evoke nonphysical, often metaphysical, qualities. At times it signifies that certain factors are trivial or irrelevant—for instance, a minor delay in time or an inconsequential detail is cast aside as immaterial [1], [2], [3]. In other contexts, the term explores the nature of the nonphysical, distinguishing the tangible world from realms of the mind or soul, as seen in discussions on the mind’s relationship to the body or the existence of an immaterial essence [4], [5], [6]. This dual usage enriches literary discourse, allowing authors to navigate both material matters and abstract, ethereal dimensions [7], [8].
- You’ve wasted a week”—Tommy hung his head—“a day or so more is immaterial.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - Other grounds for the decision are immaterial here.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - It can hardly have been immaterial to the case for which it was first introduced.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - Moreover nature could be known only through observation; it appealed to the senses—which were merely material as opposed to a purely immaterial mind.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - In its higher faculty the immaterial soul was active solely by itself, and without co-operation of the body.
— from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer - Man is therefore free to act, and as such he is animated by an immaterial substance; that is the third article of my creed.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The order of the moves is immaterial, and this order may be greatly varied.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - Indeed motion cannot be attributed to God; not because he is an immaterial, but because he is an infinite spirit.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
