Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who believes in the perfectibility of human nature in this life; a perfectionist.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun rare A perfectionist. See also
illuminati , 2.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A believer in
perfectibility .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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For once, that is, a perfectibilist does not try to turn human beings either into gods or into mere instruments in the hands of God, the State, or the educator.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
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In his Observations on Man (1749), David Hartley supplied a theoretical underpinning for Locke's habit - forming education by developing an associationist psy - chology and made more explicit its perfectibilist con - sequences.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
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If orthodox Christianity has usually been antiperfectibilist, at least so far as the present life is concerned, not all Christians have been prepared to abandon perfectibilist hopes.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
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In classical perfectibilist theories, man is perfected in a sudden breakthrough, a conversion of the soul, even if only after a long period of spiritual preparation.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
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On the other hand, however, a curious variety of perfectibilist mysticism, often psychoanalytically tinged, has attracted some forceful adherents.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
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a benevolent, providential God which sustains his perfectibilist hopes.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN JOHN PASSMORE 1968
qms commented on the word perfectibilist
Of dullards perhaps not the visiblest
Once found, though, surely the risiblest.
To mock the dimwitted
Is even permitted
If shown he’s a true perfectibilist.
January 6, 2018