perfectibilism


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perfectibilism

(pəˈfɛktɪbɪˌlɪzəm)
n
(Philosophy) philosophy the belief in the perfectibility of human nature

perfectibilism

the attitude that anything short of perfection is unacceptable. — perfectibilist, n.
See also: Attitudes
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Such biological perfectibilism is precisely what Malthus opposed in contemporaries like Godwin who were optimistic enough to believe in the inevitability of individual and social progress.
The "dog-man": race, sex, species, and lineage in Coetzee's Disgrace
In Blake's drastically modified version of Godwinian perfectibilism, a metaphysical dimension must be retained despite its risks, if modern utopian politics are to become as humane as they intend.
Freedom from Blake's Book of Urizen
Shelley's critique of Malthus took a different tactic; he objected to it on the grounds of its misrepresentation of Godwinian perfectibilism.
Romanticisms, histories, and romantic cultures
The Universal Reformer is here figured as a perverted Prospero, a wicked magician employing his supernal arts in the cause of an unholy (and wholly illogical) perfectibilism.
Hawthorne and the universal reformers
Voogt's lucid thematic biography dilates upon Coornhert's theologico-philosophical and politico-pragmatic pro-toleration arguments, against the background of his perfectibilism and rationalistic spiritualism and the birth of the Dutch Republic.
Constraint on Trial: Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert and Religious Freedom. (Book Reviews and Notes)
Godwin's Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793), that paean to philosophical anarchism that inspired a generation of radicals and Romantics--particularly, of course, Shelley--projected perfectibilism par excellence.
The Dystopian Theodicy of Parson Malthus

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