Dimension

Across different philosophical traditions, the notion of “dimension” is rarely addressed with a single equivalent term. Instead, various concepts relate to spatial extension, levels of reality, or categories of existence, using words such as:
Western Philosophy

Extension (Extensio): In the philosophy of Descartes and Spinoza, this is a primary attribute of physical substance, signifying magnitude in three dimensions (length, breadth, and depth).
Diastêma : An ancient Greek term meaning “distance” or “interval,” used to refer to spatial extension and the intervals between things, including musical notes or numbers.
Chôra / Topos: Greek terms referring to “place” or “space,” which deal with the concepts of area and location that implicitly have dimension.
Form / Realm (Intelligible realm vs. sensible realm): Plato’s philosophy distinguishes between the world of eternal, non-physical Forms and the material world of appearances. The “intelligible realm” can be seen as a higher dimension of reality.
Noumenon: In Kantian philosophy, the “thing-in-itself” or the ultimate reality that exists independently of human perception, contrasted with the “phenomenal” world we experience through our built-in filters of space and time.
Manifold: A mathematical term adopted into philosophy (e.g., by Kant) to describe a collection of elements or data that can be ordered in various ways, touching upon the modern understanding of an n-dimensional space.
Ontology / Being: The study of existence and fundamental reality. Discussions of what “is” at the most basic level often involve different “levels” or “kinds” of existence.

Eastern Philosophy

Brahman: In Hindu philosophy (Advaita Vedanta), Brahman is the ultimate, infinite reality, the ground of all being that underlies all phenomena and is beyond the limitations of space and time.
Maya: The concept in Hinduism of the perceived, everyday reality as a lower level of truth or an illusion, which contrasts with the true “dimension” of Brahman.
Nirvana / Ultimate Dimension: In Mahayana Buddhism, the “ultimate dimension” (a term used by Thich Nhat Hanh) describes Nirvana, a state of complete freedom beyond notions of space, time, birth, and death, contrasted with the “historical dimension” of conventional reality.
Tao (): In Taoism, the Tao is the nameless, eternal principle that underlies the universe, an ultimate truth that is beyond words and ordinary dimensions of existence.
Paramāṇu: In the Vaisheshika school of ancient Indian atomism, paramāṇu refers to the indestructible, indivisible atoms that have a special “small” dimension (aṇu).
Dimensions of the Mind: Some Hindu traditions describe “seven dimensions of the mind,” which are states of awareness or perception, rather than physical spatial dimensions.

General/Cross-Cultural Terms

Realm: A common word used across many cultural and philosophical contexts (e.g., the Mortal Realm, the Fae Realm) to denote a sphere or domain of existence that operates under different rules or conditions, often conceptually distinct from “dimension” as a physical axis.
Plane: Similar to “realm,” this term suggests a distinct level or area of reality, such as the “astral plane”.
Sphere / Domain: Terms generally used to describe an area of influence or existence.

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://search.proquest.com/openview/8535c487457e9d617d0a09bd1962980c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1316370

[2] https://metanexus.net/idea-levels-reality-and-its-relevance-non-reduction-and-personhood/

[3] https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-76739-6_3

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/11kct7z/what_word_can_i_use_instead_of/

[5] https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/ontology

[6] wikipedia/en/Ontology