absolutism - A form of government in which the king has complete control. Russia under Peter the Great, or France under Louis XIV for example.
anarchism - The idea that all government is bad.
anti-Semitism - The idea that Jews are the enemy because they are Jews.
Austro-Slavism – the ism that says all the Slavs are better off protected by Austria than getting conquered by Russia or killing each other.
bullionism - The idea that the more gold or silver in a country the better. Started with the opening of the Atlantic. There are two ways to get the gold: mine it (Spain) or steal it (England.)
capitalism - Economic system in which capital is controlled by individuals, not by the state. The economy grows through the efforts of each individual to make the most profit. Possession of property is the foundation for personal independence and political liberty.
colonialism - Closely related to imperialism. The idea that countries should settle their own people (establish colonies) in lands they conquer to manage the economic exploitation of the area and to govern it.
communism - A form of government and a way to manage the economy that puts all power in the hands of the Communist Party, ostensibly to manage the country for the good of the "people." "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." The original ideas were Karl Marx's. It was brought to fruition in Russia by Lenin.
conservatism - The idea that change should come slowly, if at all. Its classical, 19th Century form emphasizes tradition, order, and stability and was most definitively expressed by Edmund Burke.
cubism - Early 20th century art movement, practiced by Picasso and others.
Cultural relativism – It is the idea that all cultures have the same problems and solve them in different ways that fit their special geographical and historical conditions. No one culture is better than another; they are just “different.”
Deconstructionism – A skeptical approach to the possibility of coherent meaning begun by French philosopher Jacques Derrida. He says that there is no “privileged point” such as an author’s contact with reality that confers significance on a text. There is only the limitless opportunity for fresh commentary or encounter with the text. A deconstructionist reading of a text “subverts” its apparent significance by uncovering contradictions and conflict within it.
Deism - the belief that God exists and created the world but thereafter assumed no control over it or over the lives of people.
Enlightened despotism - Absolute rule justified not on grounds of heredity or divine right. Secular in outlook and justification, as in Frederick the Great's self-description as "the first servant of the state." Used to rationalize and organize the state from the top down during the Age of the Enlightenment. Other example is Joseph II of Austria.
fascism - "Nationalism on steroids." Also a hierarchical economic system not unlike feudalism except that everyone is working at the behest of and for the benefit of the state. The ideal government is the “corporate syndical state.”
feudalism - A hierarchical system of government and agriculture based on private contract. Land, worked by serfs attached to it, was held by vassals in exchange for military service and other duties to lords.
futurism - movement in pre-World War One Italian painting and sculpture. Sometimes identified with fascism. Opposed traditionalism and tried to depict dynamic movement by the elimination of conventional form, balance and rhythm. Stressed the violence and speed of the machine age.
Gallicanism - name for French Catholic Church since French kings wrested so much power from the Pope.
Humanism - the intellectual and culture movement that grew out of the study of Greek and Roman literature at the end of the Middle Ages. It was an important factor in the rise of the Renaissance. Characterized by an emphasis on human interests and characteristics rather than the natural world or religion.
Idealism – any doctrine that holds that reality is fundamentally mental rather than material. The first and most important advocate of this notion was Plato.
imperialism - The desire of a country to take over and exploit foreign lands, usually inhabited by people of different ethnicity and religion. Economic motive is to acquire raw materials.
impressionism - French art movement started around 1871 with Monet's "Impression of Sunrise" at Salon des Refuses in Paris.
individualism - The idea that the individual is more important than the state or any other group.
irredentism - The desire to reclaim land that once belonged to one's country and, in one's opinion, should again.
Jansenism - Ideas of 17th century French Catholics who favored Calvinist interpretation of Christianity just the same.
liberalism - 19th political philosophy supported mostly by business and professional men. They support only limited suffrage. They favor freedom for the individual, so they fear the "mob." Strong emphasis on the rights of property. Generally they favored laissez-faire economics, especially at the beginning of the 19th century - keep the government out of the economy and let each individual have as much freedom as possible to improve himself. Advocated free trade (so they opposed mercantilists). Generally they opposed militarism. Favors constitutionalism, “stake in society” theory, and nationalism, because of the idea that people should be governed with their own consent. At the beginning of the 19th century liberals defined freedom as the absence of constraint. At the end they defined it as the presence of opportunity.
materialism - The idea that only what is tangible is real. "Everything mental, spiritual or ideal is an outgrowth of physical or physiological forces." (RRP) Marx was a materialist; so was Thomas Hobbes.
mercantilism - The idea that a national economy must be strong and self-sufficient. Encourages establishment of a "favorable" balance of trade: export more than you import. Results in increase of gold in country. Developed along with national monarchies as a way to finance governments. Through the granting of monopolies governments made money and consolidated power. Monopolies enabled the products of one nation to be sold to advantage internationally, by controlling the supply. Favors tariffs in international trade to keep out imports and seeks to eliminate barriers to internal trade. Government participation is decisive so mercantilism will be opposed by the capitalists who want freedom from all government involvement in the economy.
nationalism - The idea that people of the same language, religion, ethnicity, or heritage should have their own government on their own land.
Naturalism - literary movement following realism in literature. Demonstrates the determination of human character by the natural and social environment. In France the most famous practitioner was Emile Zola.
nihilism - Ideas of disgruntled intellectuals in 1860s Russia. They believed in "nothing" except science.
Pan-slavism - The idea that Slavic peoples should identify with each other and have their own nation. (No matter that Slavs have many different histories, cultures, historic lands, languages and religions.) Heavily promoted by Russia at the end of the 19th century as a way to promote her own imperialistic aspirations in the Balkans.
Pantheism – The belief that God and the universe are identical, which denies the personality and transcendence of God.
positivism - Philosophy identified with French philosopher Auguste Comte. Insists on verifiable facts, avoidance of wishful thinking, questioning of all assumptions, dislike of improvable generalizations. "...in its broad sense, both in its demand for observation of facts and testing of ideas, and in its aspiration to be humanly useful, t contributed to the growth of the social sciences as a branch of learning." (RRP)
Post-modernism – In culture it is associated with surfaces and superficial style including self-conscious parody and quotation. It is a reaction to the naïve confidence in progress and also again confidence in objective or scientific truth. These folks disagree with the idea that even though history admits of no one final description it does admit of more or less accurate ones.
Post-structuralism – It is a flavor of post-modernism defined by its reaction against structuralism (duh!) and it goes with writers like Derrida and Foucault. It rejects any concepts of objectivity, reality or truth, even in the definition of the self. These folks believe that there is no meaning inherent in any work of art and that it does not matter one jot why it was made, who the author or artist was, what the context was in which is was made, and that furthermore any one’s interpretation of it is equally good as anyone else’s. These folks are also concerned with the use of words to determine or create relationships of power. They disagree with the structuralists that the unconscious and forms of society obey structural laws even if they have not been discovered.
realism - Art and literature movement that followed Romanticism. Closely allied with Realpolitik in government. As a philosophy it is a "kind of unrealistic faith in the constructive value of struggle and a tough-minded rejection of ideas and ideals." (RRP)
radicalism - English movement of philosophers who wanted to "deduce the right form of institutions from the very nature of and psychology of man himself." (RRP) Favored universal manhood suffrage, reform of Parliament.
relativism - The idea that truth is not absolute, but rather is subjective. It maintains that the basis for judgment depends on the events, people, or circumstances surrounding a given situation.
republicanism - French idea that a republican form of government is best. Opposed to the monarchists who were scared of the excesses of the Jacobins and their ancestors. Unlike liberals they favor universal suffrage. They are opposed to monarchy of any variety and they are opposed to the Catholic church since they think it is the enemy of reason and liberty.
romanticism - Movement in art, music and literature that was a reaction against the classical period. Themes included emotion, supernatural, nationalism, cute peasants, historical themes, nature (especially dangerous nature), true love (often unrequited) and death.
Scholasticism - The system of logic, philosophy and theology of medieval university scholars, includes the idea that reason and faith can be reconciled. The most famous practitioner is St. Thomas Aquinas. It is based on the writings of Aristotle and the early Christian fathers.
Social Darwinism - The idea that life is a struggle and only the fittest groups of people should survive.
socialism - Idea that the government should manage the economy, or aspects of the economy for the good of the people. 19th century socialists agreed that workers were unfairly treated, opposed competition as a principle of economic behavior, rejected laissez-faire, questioned the validity of the concept of private property.
Structuralism – An intellectual movement from France in the 1960’s. It asserted that phenomena of human life do not make sense except through their inter-relations. The inter-relations constitute the “Structure” and there are laws that explain how the structure works. In anthropology the leading structuralist was Claude Levi-Strauss.
Syndicalism – revolutionary French trade unionism. Its leader was Georges Sorel, whose book was “Reflections on Violence.” Its high point was 1895. Syndicalists accept the Marxist idea of class struggle and the need for revolution, but they argue that the state should be destroyed and not merely captured. Their method is the general strike executed through trade unions. The idea is that the government will be replaced with a federation of unions that will collectively own the means of production and distribution. Then each industry will be administered by the workers organized into “syndicats.”
totalitarianism - The organization of a state that has complete control over every aspect of the individual's life and in which the goal of the individual is to serve the state. Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China are all examples.
utilitarianism - Idea of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) that the object of conduct and legislation is to achieve, in the words of Francis Hutchison, “the greatest good for the greatest number”. There is a strong relativist component since the morality of an action is defined by its utility: does it cause pleasure or pain? Bentham defines "good" as that which gives pleasure or stops pain and "bad" as that which gives pain.
ultramontanism - Flavor of Catholicism that gives absolute obedience and allegiance to the Pope. Jesuits practice it. It finally prevailed over the Gallican and other nationalistic tendencies within the Church in the late 19th century.
Zionism - The idea that Jews should have a nation in the land of Israel. First articulated by Theodor Herzl in 1896, in response to anti-Semitism unleashed by the Dreyfus case.
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