acosmism a term formed in analogy to ‘atheism,’ meaning the denial of the ultimate reality of the world. Ernst Platner used it in 1776 to describe Spinoza’s philosophy, arguing that Spinoza did not intend to deny ‘the existence of the Godhead, but the existence of the world.’ Maimon, Fichte, Hegel, and others make the same claim. By the time of Feuerbach it was also used to characterize a basic feature of Christianity: the denial of the world or worldliness. See also FICHTE, HEGEL , SPINOZ. M.K.