| 释义 |
ethos
\ˈēˌthäs sometimes ˈeˌ- or -thōs\ noun
(-es)
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek ēthos character, delineation of character, custom, accustomed place — more at ethical
1. : character, sentiment, or moral nature:
a. : the guiding beliefs, standards, or ideals that characterize or pervade a group, a community, a people, or an ideology : the spirit that motivates the ideas, customs, or practices of a people, an epoch, or a region
< the general ethos of the people they have to govern … determines the behavior of politicians — T.S.Eliot >
< every age or epoch is inspired by what may be called its inevitable idea — the ethos of the century — Life >
< our democratic ethos >
< the quasi-moral American ethos of production at any cost — William Troy >
< the commercial ethos … of the 19th century — C.W.Hendel >
b. : the complex of fundamental values that underlies, permeates, or actuates major patterns of thought and behavior in any particular culture, society, or institution
< the value system, the ethos of a group — Kurt Lewin >
also : such a complex permeating a literary or scientific work or an intellectual discipline
< the ethos of science >
2.
a. in Aristotelian philosophy
(1) : the character or personality of a man especially with respect to a balance between the passions and caution
(2) : an element (as moral purpose) in dramatic character which determines what a man does in contrast to what he thinks — compare dianoia
b. : the disposition, fundamental outlook, moral attitude, or system of values of an individual
< that fateful summer of 1940 when Churchill alone, endowed with prophetic ethos and a keen sense of the realities of war and peace, turned the tide — Atlantic >
< there was a distinctly athletic ethos about her, as if … she might have majored in physical education — J.D.Salinger > |