meliorism
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun (noun) The improvement of society by regulated practical means: opposed to the passive principle of both pessimism and optimism.
- noun (noun) The doctrine that the world is neither the worst nor the best possible, but that it is capable of improvement: a mean between theoretical pessimism and optimism.
Examples
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The term optimism as thus extended would also include 'meliorism', a word first used in print by Sully to designate the theory of those who hold that things are, indeed, bad, but that they can be better, and that it is in our power to increase the happiness and welfare of mankind.
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The indecency and barbarism aimed at Dr. King and others of his era are being replaced with decency and meliorism.
Rev. Jesse Jackson: 40 Years of Progress and The Work That Remains
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It is, however, fair to state that the term 'meliorism,' coined by William James, describes far more accurately than 'optimism' the view of the process philosophers mentioned.
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[Beatrice Webb] has been hailed as a spiritual descendant of the noble meliorism of John Stuart Mill and George Eliot.
Note
'Meliorism' comes from the Latin 'melior,' better.
