externalism

American  

[ik-stur-nl-iz-uhm] / ɪkˈstɜr nlˌɪz əm /

noun

1. attention to externals, especially excessive attention to externals, as in religion.

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externalism British  

/ ɪkˈstɜːnəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. exaggerated emphasis on outward form, esp in religious worship

2. a philosophical doctrine holding that only objects that can be perceived by the senses are real; phenomenalism

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Other Word Forms

• externalist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of externalism

First recorded in 1855–60; external + -ism

Example Sentences

The second reason may well be that there are different coping mechanisms among minorities that are more externalism than internalizing.

From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2013

Some of these are good enough, but they nearly all culminate in an ambitious externalism.

From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by Bartlett, William Chauncey

Pharisaism ought to have led to externalism; in fact, it did not, for somehow excessive scrupulosity in rite and pietistic exercises went hand in hand with simple faith and religious inwardness.

From Judaism by Abrahams, Israel

Hamsun's shrewdness had penetrated to the weakness of American civilization, its externalism, its materialism, its dryness and shallowness.

From Knut Hamsun by Larsen, Hanna Astrup

Fire, the most magic and startling of all material things, is a thing known only to man and the expression of his sublime externalism.

From A Miscellany of Men by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)