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

See Examples For:

externalism

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

Their place in Israel was to be the champions of righteousness, and—I was going to say—the knights of God, as against law and ceremonial and externalism.

From Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John by Alexander Maclaren

One was saved from the perils of a mere externalism, and was driven inward on the unseen realities which ceremonial may sometimes obscure.

From Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography by George William Erskine Russell

If externalism has to be adopted to hedge royalty, still a further inner change is demanded: there must be a corresponding spiritual growth.

From Cyropaedia: the education of Cyrus by Henry Graham Dakyns

This is the provision that externalism makes for the practical inculcation of truthfulness,—a virtue which its religion and its ethics profess to honour above all others.

From What Is and What Might Be A Study of Education in General and Elementary Education in Particular by Edmond Holmes