Crossword clues for philistinism
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Philistinism \Phi*lis"tin*ism\, n.
The condition, character, aims, and habits of the class
called Philistines. See Philistine, 3. [Recent]
--Carlyle.
On the side of beauty and taste, vulgarity; on the side
of morals and feeling, coarseness; on the side of mind
and spirit, unintelligence, -- this is Philistinism.
--M. Arnold.
Wiktionary
n. A materialistic attitude accompanied by ignorance of artistic or cultural matters
WordNet
n. a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters [syn: materialism]
Wikipedia
In the fields of philosophy and æsthetics, the term philistinism describes the social attitude of anti-intellectualism that undervalues and despises art, beauty, spirituality, and intellect; "the manners, habits, and character, or mode of thinking of a philistine". A philistine person is an individual who is smugly narrow of mind and of conventional morality whose materialistic views and tastes indicate a lack of and indifference to cultural and æsthetic values.
Since the 19th century, the contemporary denotation of philistinism, as the behaviour of 'ignorant, ill-behaved persons lacking in culture or artistic appreciation, and only concerned with materialistic values' derives from Matthew Arnold's adaptation to English of the German word Philister—as applied by university students in their antagonistic relations with the townspeople of Jena, Germany, where, in 1689, a row resulted in several deaths. In the aftermath, the university cleric addressed the town-vs-gown matter with an admonishing sermon 'The Philistines be upon thee', drawn from the Book of Judges (Chapter 16, 'Samson vs the Philistines'), of the Tanakh and of the Christian Old Testament.
Usage examples of "philistinism".
His chilly personality pervaded the scene much more thoroughly than did the philistinism of the next sovereigns, and his attachment to literature would have been touching had it really come from the heart.
The incarnate ideal of British philistinism is sure to have a career before him.
Dalmaine embodied those forces of philistinism, that essence of the vulgar creed, which Egremont had undertaken to attack, and which, as he already felt, were likely to yield as little before his efforts as a stone wall under the blow of a naked hand.
I refer again to my observations on the philistinism prevalent among physicians, and I know from very positive experience that there are healthy as well as morbid sensations in sleep, precisely as in the day-life.
The bloods, of course, were too completely settled in their grooves of Philistinism and self-worship to feel the force of innovation.
To transcend technocracy, we need not only to reach beyond our economic philistinism, but to open our minds to more distant futures, both probable and possible.
It was a voice composed of tweeds, headscarves, summer pudding, hockey-sticks, thatched houses, saddle-soap, house--parties, nuns, family pews, large dogs and philistinism, and in spite of all her attempts to reduce its volume it was loud as a dinner-jacketed drunk throwing bread rolls in a Club.