monism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The doctrine that there is a single source of political authority, especially that the church is subordinate to the state or vice versa.

   The same conflict between the monism of temporal theorists and the dualism of ecclesiastical thinkers—the same opposition of organic to symbiotic union—occurred in the ninth century.

2. 2
   noun

   the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element

3. 3
   noun

   The doctrine of the oneness and unity of reality, despite the appearance of diversity in the world.

4. 4
   noun

   The legal doctrine that international law forms part of domestic law automatically after ratification or accession.

The word was coined by German philosopher Baron Christian von Wolff and first used in English in 1862, from New Latin monismus, from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone”). By surface analysis, mon- + -ism.

Topics