| 释义 |
meliorism|ˈmiːlɪərɪz(ə)m|
[f. L. melior better + -ism.]
1. The doctrine, intermediate between optimism and pessimism, which affirms that the world may be made better by rightly-directed human effort.
As used by some writers, the term implies further the belief that society has on the whole a prevailing tendency towards improvement.
[1858: cf. meliorist.] 1877Geo. Eliot Let. J. Sully 1 Jan. in Cross Life (1885) III. 301 The doctrine of meliorism. 1877J. Sully Pessimism 399 Our line of reasoning provides us..with a practical conception..which, to use a term for which I am indebted to..George Eliot, may be appropriately styled Meliorism. By this I would understand the faith which affirms not merely our power of lessening evil—this nobody questions—but also our ability to increase the amount of positive good. 1885J. H. Clapperton (title) Scientific Meliorism and the Evolution of Happiness.
2. Used as the designation of a principle of action in dealing with the evils of society (see quot.).
1883L. F. Ward Dynamic Sociol. II. 468 Meliorism..may be defined as humanitarianism minus all sentiment... It implies the improvement of the social condition through cold calculation, through the adoption of indirect means. It is not content merely to alleviate present suffering, it aims to create conditions under which no suffering can exist. |