universalismn.
/ˌjuːnᵻˈvəːsəlɪz(ə)m/, /ˌjuːnᵻˈvəːsl̩ɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˌjunəˈvərsəˌlɪz(ə)m/ 1. Theology (Christian Church and Judaism). The belief that all people are chosen by God for salvation; the doctrine of universal election and universal redemption. Cf. universalist n. 1. Opposed to particularism.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > salvation, redemption > doctrine of salvation > [noun] > universalism
universalism1722
1722 J. Williamson Scope & Substance of Marrow of Mod. Divinity i. 28 The Author maintains no Universalism, but what relates to the Universality of the Offer of Pardon to all without Exception.
1796 N. Strong Doctr. Eternal Misery iii. i. 204 Dr. H...expatiates much on the infinite mercy of God in the gospel, and seems to conceive such descriptions to be arguments in favor of Universalism.
1840 G. S. Faber Christ's Disc. Capernaum 224 A tremendously wide and long enduring Apostasy..is..rhetorically spoken of in terms which literally import Universalism.
1864 J. Donaldson Crit. Hist. Christian Lit. & Doctr. I. 37 Heathen Christianity..proclaimed all men alike in God's sight. Paul was the preacher of this universalism.
1930 C. G. Montefiore Rabbinic Lit. & Gospel Teachings 211 Orthodox Judaism..developed into something near a satisfactory universalism. For conduct, morality..enabled a man to obtain salvation whatever his creed (at all events if he was a Theist).
1953 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 97 34/2 They were further dismayed by the inroads of Universalism.
1997 Psychol. Today Jan. 6/1 He espouses universalism—the doctrine that all paths lead to salvation.
2.
a. The fact or condition of being universal in character or scope; universality of application or relevance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [noun] > generality or prevalence > universality
universality?c1400
university1553
universalness1561
universalty1567
epidemicalness1646
allnessa1649
epidemicity1716
universalism1835
catholicity1868
globality1931
1835 Leigh Hunt's London Jrnl. 11 July 221/1 What (if we might take the liberty to coin a word) we would call the universalism of the Homeric poetry.
1883 A. M. Fairbairn City of God iii. i. 230 This is..the universalism of Jesus Himself... He belongs to humanity, not to Israel.
1943 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 4 191 The secret of the universalism of Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Dostoievsky is their radical regionalism, that is to say, their profound national character.
1988 B. Cooper Alexander Kennedy Isbister ii. viii. 205 He would do so by invoking canons of legal universalism.
2004 NSDL Scout Rep. for Math, Engin., & Technol. (Electronic text) 9 Apr. Casey's article highlights some myths about the universalism of mathematics, challenges notions of what primitive means, and offers additional resources on ethnomathematics.
b. The principle of regarding humanity as a whole, rather than in terms of different nations, races, etc.; an example of this.
ΚΠ
1874 R. Flint Philos. Hist. Europe I. ii. iv. 383 We admit that his universalism or cosmopolitanism was one-sided, but assuredly the nationalism or patriotism which looks on it as in itself an evil..is as one-sided.
1902 Proc. Louisiana Bar Assoc. 10 There is a tendency towards universalism which sets the claims of mankind above nationalities.
1936 K. Polanyi in J. Lewis et al. Christianity & Social Revol. iii. i. 387 Universalism is thus more or less synonymous with non-racialism.
1998 D. Gress From Plato to NATO vii. 261 A postliberal universalism that rejected the historical West in favor of an impossible, global humanism that was both individualistic and multicultural.
2003 R. Beiner Liberalism, Nationalism & Citizenship i. 29 To opt wholeheartedly for universalism implies deracination—rootlessness. To opt wholeheartedly for particularism implies parochialism.
c. Sociology and Economics. The theory or practice of central, national, or international systems of administration, or of economic, cultural, or political affiliation; the fact or state of being universal in nature or approach. Cf. particularism n. 5b, regionalism n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > [noun] > doctrines or theories > specific
Owenism1825
mutualism1842
Hellenism1868
universalism1902
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > [noun] > doctrines or theories
mutualism1842
pluralism1917
possibilism1925
primitivism1934
universalism1939
particularism1949
unilinealism1957
1902 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 8 420 At first the universalism of Rome in both political and religious realms conquered the individualism of the Germans.
1939 T. Parsons in Social Forces May 462/2 The fact that the central focus of the professional rôle lies in a technical competence gives a very great importance to universalism in the institutional pattern governing it.
1959 A. H. Robertson European Institutions i. 4 As the idea of universalism waned,..that of regionalism developed.
2002 T. Nairn Pariah 155 Oppositionists settled in the now familiar hypnotised fashion for their own versions of marketolatry and free-trade universalism, using alibis like the Third Way.
3. The fact or quality of being concerned with or interested in all or a great variety of subjects; universality of knowledge. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > large amount of knowledge > [noun] > possession of
universality1605
polymathy1642
all-knowingness1674
pansophia1674
pansophy1792
polyhistory1799
multiscience1816
encyclopaedism1833
universalism1838
omnisciencea1845
know-everythingism1855
pansophism1868
1838 New Monthly Mag. 54 132 The full-blown facility of modern universalism.
1877 J. Morley Crit. Misc. 2nd Ser. 247 That weak kind of universalism which nullifies some otherwise good men.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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