What is "sentimentalism"

Sentimentalism \Sen`ti*men"tal*ism\, n. [Cf. F. sentimentalisme.] The quality of being sentimental; the character or behavior of a sentimentalist; sentimentality.

1801, from sentimental + -ism.

n. 1 A liking for sentimental things 2 An overly sentimental thing or condition; bathos or sentimentality 3 (context philosophy English) A view according to which morality is somehow grounded in moral sentiments or emotions.

1. n. a sentimental expression or idea

2. a predilection for sentimentality

Sentimentalism is used in different ways:

• Sentimentalism (philosophy), a theory in moral epistemology concerning how one knows moral truths; also known as moral sense theory
• Sentimentalism (literature), a form of literary discourse

It is not to be confused with sentimentality, which originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but whose current usage defines it as an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason.

Sentimentalism is the practice of being sentimental, or the tendency to base actions and reactions from emotions and feelings as opposed to reason. As a literary mode, sentimentalism has been a recurring aspect of world literature, and is important to the traditions of India, China, and Vietnam. Sentimentalism may refer to a variety of aspects in literature, such as sentimental poetry, the sentimental novel, or the German sentimentalist music movement, Empfindsamkeit.

European sentimentalism arose during the Age of Enlightenment, partly as a response to sentimentalism in philosophy. In eighteenth-century England, the sentimental novel was a major literary genre.