presentism

American  

[pri-zen-tiz-uhm] / prɪˈzɛnˌtɪz əm /

noun

1. the centering of present-day attitudes, values, and concepts in the interpretation of historical events.

   Presentism and failure to understand the political themes of the book in their historical context have led to many poorly informed modern criticisms of it.

2. Philosophy. the metaphysical doctrine that only things that are present exist.

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Other Word Forms

• presentist
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of presentism

First recorded in 1915–20; present ¹ ( def. ) + -ism ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

presentism

The much harder work is getting out of survival mode — the all-consuming pressures of eternal presentism and perpetual crisis — and into a mode and discipline of building what comes after.

From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026

That said, perspective is important in history and I don't believe in "presentism," the idea that we can hold people who lived in other times to the moral and legal standards of our own.

From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2023

I wonder if something like the opposite is happening now: The allure of presentism is causing people to romanticize contemporary perspectives at the expense of an excessively vilified past.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021

Of all the prejudices of pundits, presentism is the strongest.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 13, 2017

The second principle—“Was the relevant principal legacy significantly contested in the time and place in which the namesake lived?”—hopes to mitigate presentism.

From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2016