antimoralism
|an-ti-mor-al-ism|
🇺🇸
/ˌæn.tiˈmɔr.ə.lɪ.zəm/
🇬🇧
/ˌæn.tɪˈmɒr.ə.lɪ.zəm/
against moralism
Etymology
'antimoralism' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against', combined with 'moral' (from Latin 'moralis') and the suffix '-ism' (from Greek '-ismos' via Latin/Old French) indicating a doctrine or practice.
'moral' comes from Latin 'moralis' (from 'mos', meaning 'custom'); it entered English via Old French 'moral'. The compound 'antimoralism' is a modern English formation (19th–20th century) created by combining 'anti-' + 'moral' + '-ism'.
The term originally and still primarily means 'opposition to moralism'; over time its use broadened into philosophical and cultural critique contexts to denote systematic rejection or critique of moralizing attitudes.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
opposition to moralism; a stance or attitude that criticizes or rejects moralizing judgments and moralistic attitudes.
Her antimoralism led her to challenge the community's habit of publicly shaming those who made personal mistakes.
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Noun 2
a philosophical position (or disposition) that rejects moralistic frameworks or the primacy of moral judgment in evaluating actions, sometimes overlapping with critiques of moralism in ethics and cultural critique.
In his paper he defended a form of antimoralism, arguing that moral condemnation often obscures social causes of wrongdoing.
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Last updated: 2025/09/04 19:16