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Word Unpacked.

dogmatism

noun [ˈdɑɡməˌtɪzəm]
pronunciation CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Dogmatism is the habit of treating your own beliefs as certain and beyond question, stating them with confidence and refusing to weigh evidence or arguments against them.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Definitions

  1. The attitude of someone who holds opinions as settled truths and states them positively, without allowing doubt, criticism or opposing evidence.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  2. In philosophy: a position that claims certain knowledge, especially through reason alone, without first examining what the mind is able to know; in this sense Kant set it against his own critical method.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  3. Firm attachment to a body of doctrine taught as authoritative, in religion, politics or science, so that its tenets are accepted rather than tested.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Examples

Usage

In everyday English dogmatism is a word of criticism. You accuse someone of it when they will not listen, repeat their position whatever the facts, and treat their own view as the only possible truth. People speak of political, religious, ideological or scientific dogmatism, and the usual remedies proposed are open-mindedness, critical thinking and a willingness to change one's mind. Few people call themselves dogmatic with pride, so the word almost always describes someone else.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

The unfriendly tone is old. Webster (1913) defines dogmatism as the manner or character of a dogmatist, that is arrogance or positiveness in stating opinion, and quotes Sir Walter Scott on the dogmatism of a self-important man's conversation. A usage note under dogma adds that the word had acquired a repulsive sense, suggesting undue authority, and that this is even truer of dogmatical and dogmatism. Webster also records that the ancient dogmatics were physicians who worked from general principles, unlike the empirics.

source Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

In the history of philosophy the word is tied above all to Immanuel Kant. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 says that until 1781 Kant taught the philosophy of Wolff, a modified dogmatic rationalism, until Hume's analysis of causation awoke him from his dogmatic slumber. Kant came to think that the old rational dogmatism put too much weight on the a priori elements of knowledge, while Hume's empiricism went too far the other way. His answer was a critical philosophy that first examines knowledge itself.

source Editorial team; facts: W. Turner, Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1910, open source

Common adjectives with the noun include blind, rigid, religious, political, scientific and intellectual, and typical verbs are accuse someone of, fall into, challenge and resist. A person given to it is a dogmatist, who dogmatizes. Dogmatism should not be confused with dogmatics, which Webster (1913) defines as the science of Christian doctrinal theology, nor with dogma itself, a single tenet held as settled.

source Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Word forms

Regular English noun; the plural dogmatisms is uncommon and refers to particular dogmatic views or kinds of dogmatism.

word forms

przypadek forma
singular dogmatism
plural dogmatisms

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms dogmaticalness, doctrinairism, opinionatedness, rigidity
source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Antonyms skepticism, open-mindedness, criticism, tolerance
source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Etymology

The noun is formed from dogma with the ending -ism. Skeat traces dogma to Greek dogma, that which seems good, an opinion, from the verb dokeo, to seem or to be of opinion, and derives dogmatic, dogmatize, dogmatism and dogmatist from the Greek stem dogmat-. Webster (1913) gives Latin dogmaticus and dogmatistes as the immediate sources of dogmatic and dogmatist.
source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source
also Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Related words

Related entries

The same entry in Polish: dogmatyzm

Questions and answers

What does dogmatism mean?

Dogmatism is the attitude of treating your beliefs as unquestionable and refusing to consider criticism or contrary evidence. In philosophy it also names a position that claims certain knowledge without first asking what reason can actually know.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

What is the difference between dogmatism and skepticism?

Dogmatism assumes that certain knowledge is available and that some claims can be treated as final. Skepticism doubts such certainty and recommends suspending judgment. Kant tried to find a path between the two, which he called criticism.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

What is a dogmatic slumber?

The phrase comes from Kant. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910, Hume's analysis of causation awoke Kant from his dogmatic slumber, meaning his earlier uncritical acceptance of the Wolffian rationalism he had taught for years.

source W. Turner, Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1910, open source

Where does the word dogmatism come from?

It comes from dogma plus the ending -ism. Skeat traces dogma to the Greek word for an opinion, that which seems good, from a verb meaning to seem.

source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source