Revisionary materialism is the view that falls between

eliminative materialism Eliminative materialism (also called eliminativism) is a materialist position in the philosophy of mind. It is the idea that majority of the mental states in folk psychology do not exist. Some supporters of eliminativism argue that no coheren ...

and

reductive materialism Type physicalism (also known as reductive materialism, type identity theory, mind–brain identity theory and identity theory of mind) is a physicalist theory in the philosophy of mind. It asserts that mental events can be grouped into types, and ...

when it comes to a particular psychological phenomenon. Take, for example, debates over the reality of a psychological concept like "

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or pseudoscience. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may b ...

" – the posit that evil spirits influence human behaviour. An eliminativist might argue that this theory completely fails to describe anything real; the reductionist might argue that the concepts are valid, and that science will simply provide an increasingly detailed understanding of the demons. The revisionist would be somewhere in between, suggesting only that ''partial'' revision of the common sense understanding will be necessary. That is, parts of the demon theory will be validated by future research. Today, one is likely to be eliminativist about demons. However, eliminative materialists mention other psychological concepts (e.g. belief, will, consciousness) about which one is more likely to be revisionist. Unlike strong eliminative materialism, the revisionist often claims that a theory or concept is only ''partially'' incorrect, perhaps because it ignores a few important causal factors.

References

Materialism Philosophy of science Metaphysical theories Metaphysics of mind {{science-philo-stub