meliorism
American Heritage Dictionary:
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mel·io·rism
(mēl'yə-rĭz'əm, mē'lē-ə-) 
n.
The belief that improvement of society depends on human effort.
melioristic mel'io·ris'tic adj.
n.
The belief that improvement of society depends on human effort.
[Latin melior, better + -ISM.]
meliorist mel'io·rist n.melioristic mel'io·ris'tic adj.
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy:
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meliorism
Term, possibly coined by George Eliot, for a position midway between pessimism and optimism: the view that the world can be made better by human effort. In political contexts, the view that the world can be made better by government effort, a rather more controversial doctrine.
Obscure Words:
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meliorism
the belief that the world tends to become better and that humans can aid its betterment
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Meliorism
This article is about the philosophical concept. For the political wing of the Italian Communist Party, see Meliorism (politics).
Meliorism is an idea in metaphysical thinking holding that progress is a real concept leading to an improvement of the world. It holds that humans can, through their interference with processes that would otherwise be natural, produce an outcome which is an improvement over the aforementioned natural one.
Meliorism, as a conception of the person and society, is at the foundation of contemporary liberal democracy and human rights and is a basic component of liberalism.[1]
Another important understanding of the meliorist tradition comes from the American Pragmatic tradition. One can read about it in the works of Lester Frank Ward, William James, Ralph Nader, and John Dewey.
Meliorism has also been used by Arthur Caplan to describe positions in bioethics that are in favor of ameliorating conditions which cause suffering, even if the conditions have long existed (e.g. being in favor of cures for common diseases, being in favor of serious anti-aging therapies as they are developed).
See also
References
External links
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Meliorism. |
- Graebner, Norman, "The Limits of Meliorism in Foreign Affairs", Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 2000
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy
The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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