ontological shock
English
[edit]Noun
[edit]ontological shock (countable and uncountable, plural ontological shocks)
- (philosophy) The state of being forced to question one's worldview.
- The discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would trigger widespread ontological shock.
- 1994, John E. Mack, Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens:
- Abductees also experience what I have called 'ontological shock' as the reality of their encounters sinks in.
- 2025 November 2 (last accessed), “Let’s Get Real! Magritte and the Nature of Reality”, in baptistcenter.com[1], archived from the original on 1 May 2006, page 5:
- Magritte offers us ontological shock treatments to jar us out of our metaphysical slumbers, but proposes no satisfying alternative.