The doctrine that all things are reducible to physical causes is called which term?

• A. Great Twitch Theory
• B. Ennui
• C. Physicalism
• D. Demagogue

Answer: (C)

The main idea tested here is a philosophical view about what everything is made of and how things relate to one another. The term that captures the belief that all phenomena can be explained in terms of physical causes is physicalism. It holds that every fact about the world, including thoughts, feelings, and intentions, ultimately reduces to physical processes in the brain or body, or at least depends entirely on them. This position stands in contrast to views that posit non-physical substances or essences.

Why this is the best fit: the aim of the statement is to identify a doctrine about reducibility to physical causes; only physicalism explicitly names that universe-wide, physical-based explanation. The other options don’t describe this view—one is not a recognized philosophical term, another denotes a mood related to boredom, and the last refers to a political figure, not a theory about the nature of reality.