monism

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒnɪzəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

monism (countable and uncountable, plural monisms)

1. (philosophy, religion) The doctrine of the oneness and unity of reality, despite the appearance of diversity in the world.

   Synonym: one-thingism

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 124:

     Many socialists were tending towards idealistic monism, regarding the world as an integrated progress of man and nature towards final harmony.

3. (historical, politics) The doctrine that there is a single source of political authority, especially that the church is subordinate to the state or vice versa.
   • 1964, Karl F. Morrison, Two Kingdoms: Ecclesiology in Carolingian Political Thought, Princeton University Press, page 4:

     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.

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

Derived terms

• theomonism

Related terms

• immanence
• pandeism
• pantheism
• panentheism

Translations

doctrine of the oneness and unity of reality

Azerbaijani: monizm Bashkir: монизм (monizm) Chinese: Mandarin: 一元論 / 一元论 (zh) (yīyuánlùn) Czech: monismus m Finnish: monismi French: monisme (fr) m German: Monismus (de) m Italian: monismo (it) m Japanese: 一元論 (ja) (いちげんろん, ichigenron) Kazakh: монизм (monizm) Kyrgyz: монизм (monizm) Latin: monismus m Occitan: monisme m Persian: یگانه‌انگاری Polish: monizm (pl) m Portuguese: monismo (pt) m Romanian: monism (ro) Russian: мони́зм (ru) m (monízm) Serbo-Croatian: monizam (sh) m Spanish: monismo (es) m Swedish: monism (sv) Thai: เอกนิยม Ukrainian: моні́зм m (monízm) Vietnamese: nhất nguyên luận (vi) (一元論), thuyết nhất nguyên (說一元) Yiddish: מאָניזם m (monizm)

See also

• dualism
• pluralism

Anagrams

• Momins, Nimmos, nomism, omnism

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French monisme.

Noun

monism n (uncountable)

1. monism

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	monism	monismul
genitive-dative	monism	monismului
vocative	monismule

Swedish

Noun

monism c

1. monism

Declension

Declension of monism

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	monism	monisms
definite	monismen	monismens
plural	indefinite	—	—
definite	—	—