Meanings
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1
noun
a Christian mystical doctrine emphasizing passive contemplation and the surrender of personal will to God
The theologian criticized quietism for treating complete spiritual passivity as the highest ideal.
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2
noun
withdrawal from practical, social, or political action into passive acceptance
Opponents accused the movement of quietism when it refused to challenge the unjust law.
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3
noun
the philosophical view that philosophy should dissolve intellectual confusion rather than construct substantive theories
His quietism treated many metaphysical disputes as problems of language rather than fact.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From quiet + -ism, modeled on French quietisme and Italian quietismo. It first named a seventeenth-century mystical doctrine of spiritual passivity, then broadened to political inaction and a therapeutic conception of philosophy.