IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms

-Isms and Literary Movements

Absolutism: Doctrine of the government by a single absolute ruler; autocracy.

Absurdism: Doctrine that we live in an irrational universe.

Aestheticism: Doctrine that beauty is central to other moral principles.

Anarchism: Doctrine that all governments should be abolished.

Anthropomorphism: Attribution of human qualities to non- human entities.

Apocalypticism: Doctrine of the imminent end of the world.

Atheism: Belief that there is no God.

Capitalism: Belief that private ownership and free market should govern economies.

Collectivism: Doctrine of communal control of the means of production.

Communism: Theory of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community and each
individual receives according to their ability and needs.

Conservatism: Belief in maintaining political and social traditions.

Constructivism: Belief that knowledge and reality do not have an objective value.

Decadent movement: Late 19th century movement. Aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality.
Emphasis on decadence (moral decay).

Determinism: Doctrine that events are predetermined by preceding events or laws.

Dualism: Doctrine that the universe is controlled by one good and one evil force.

Egalitarianism: Belief that humans ought to be equal in rights and privileges.

Egoism: Doctrine that the pursuit of self interest is the highest good.

Eidolism: Belief in ghosts.

Empiricism: Doctrine that the experience of senses is the only source of knowledge.
 IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms

Eudaemonism: Ethical belief that happiness equals morality.

Existentialism: Doctrine of individual human responsibility in an unfathomable universe.

Expressionism: Part of a larger expressionist movement. Literary avant- garde expressionism rejects
notions of realism in order to depict emotion and subjective thoughts.

Fallibilism: Doctrine that empirical knowledge is uncertain.

Fatalism: Doctrine that events are fixed and humans are powerless against fate.

Fideism: Doctrine that knowledge depends on faith over reason.

Gnosticism: Belief that freedom is derived solely from knowledge.

Gothic literature: Fiction in which romantic ideals are combined with an interest in the supernatural and
violence.

Hedonism: Belief that pleasure is the highest good.

Historicism: Belief that all phenomena are historically determined.

Humanism: Belief that human interests and mind are paramount.

Humanitarianism: Doctrine that the highest moral obligation is to improve human welfare.

Idealism: Belief that our experiences of the world consists of ideas.

Ignorantism: Doctrine that ignorance is a favourable thing.

Immoralism: Rejection of mortality.

Individualism: Belief that individual interests and rights are paramount.

Instrumentalism: Belief that ideas are instruments of action.

Intellectualism: Belief that all knowledge is derived from reason.

Liberalism: Doctrine of social change and tolerance.

Libertarianism: Doctrine that personal liberty is the highest value.

 IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms

Magical realism/ Fabulism: Literary movement in which magical elements appear in realistic
circumstances.

Malism: Belief that the world is evil.

Materialism: Belief that matter is the only extant substance.

Modernism: Early 20th century movement. Encompassing primitivism, and reaction to science and
technology.

Mortalism: Belief that the soul is mortal.

Mutualism: Belief in mutual dependence of society and the individual.

Naturalism: Late 19th century movement. Belief that the world can be explained in terms of natural
forces.

Nihilism: Denial of all reality; extreme scepticism.

Objectivism: Doctrine that all reality is objective.

Optimism: Belief that we live in the best of all possible realities.

Pansexualism: Belief that all desire and interest is derived from sexual instinct.

Perfectionism: Doctrine that moral perfection constitutes the highest value.

Pessimism: Doctrine that the universe is essentially evil.

Postcolonialism: Movement of writers from former colonies of European countries, whose work
documents colonialism and imperialism; focused on the human consequences of the control and
exploitation of colonised people and their lands.

Postmodernism: Postwar and contemporary literature movement skeptical of absolutes and embracing
diversity, irony, and word play. Characterised by metafiction, unreliable narration, self- reflexivity,
intertextuality.

Pragmatism: Doctrine emphasising practical values of philosophy.

Primitivism: Doctrine that simple and natural life is morally ideal.

Psychomorphism: The attribution of mental processes (thoughts and feelings) to non- human entities.

Racism: Belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities.

 IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms

Rationalism: Belief that reason is the fundamental source of knowledge.

Realism: Late 29th century movement. Doctrine that objects of cognition are real.

Romanticism: Belief in sentimental feeling in artistic expression.

Sensationalism: Belief that ideas originate solely as a sensation.

Sexism: Belief in systematic inequalities between the sexes.

Skepticism: Doctrine that true knowledge is always uncertain.

Socialism: Doctrine of centralised state control of wealth and property.

Stoicism: Belief in indifference to pain or pleasure.

Subjectivism: Doctrine that all knowledge is subjective.

Utilitarianism: Belief that utility of actions determines moral value.

World War I: Namely British poets and writers who documented the idealism and horrors of warfare.

Voluntarism: Belief that the will dominates intellect.

Zoomorphism: Conception of a deity or man in animalistic form.