IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms
-Isms and Literary Movements
Absolutism: Doctrine of the government by a single absolute ruler; autocracy.
Absurdism: Doctrine that we live in an irrational universe.
Aestheticism: Doctrine that beauty is central to other moral principles.
Anarchism: Doctrine that all governments should be abolished.
Anthropomorphism: Attribution of human qualities to non- human entities.
Apocalypticism: Doctrine of the imminent end of the world.
Atheism: Belief that there is no God.
Capitalism: Belief that private ownership and free market should govern economies.
Collectivism: Doctrine of communal control of the means of production.
Communism: Theory of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community and each
individual receives according to their ability and needs.
Conservatism: Belief in maintaining political and social traditions.
Constructivism: Belief that knowledge and reality do not have an objective value.
Decadent movement: Late 19th century movement. Aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality.
Emphasis on decadence (moral decay).
Determinism: Doctrine that events are predetermined by preceding events or laws.
Dualism: Doctrine that the universe is controlled by one good and one evil force.
Egalitarianism: Belief that humans ought to be equal in rights and privileges.
Egoism: Doctrine that the pursuit of self interest is the highest good.
Eidolism: Belief in ghosts.
Empiricism: Doctrine that the experience of senses is the only source of knowledge.
IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms
Eudaemonism: Ethical belief that happiness equals morality.
Existentialism: Doctrine of individual human responsibility in an unfathomable universe.
Expressionism: Part of a larger expressionist movement. Literary avant- garde expressionism rejects
notions of realism in order to depict emotion and subjective thoughts.
Fallibilism: Doctrine that empirical knowledge is uncertain.
Fatalism: Doctrine that events are fixed and humans are powerless against fate.
Fideism: Doctrine that knowledge depends on faith over reason.
Gnosticism: Belief that freedom is derived solely from knowledge.
Gothic literature: Fiction in which romantic ideals are combined with an interest in the supernatural and
violence.
Hedonism: Belief that pleasure is the highest good.
Historicism: Belief that all phenomena are historically determined.
Humanism: Belief that human interests and mind are paramount.
Humanitarianism: Doctrine that the highest moral obligation is to improve human welfare.
Idealism: Belief that our experiences of the world consists of ideas.
Ignorantism: Doctrine that ignorance is a favourable thing.
Immoralism: Rejection of mortality.
Individualism: Belief that individual interests and rights are paramount.
Instrumentalism: Belief that ideas are instruments of action.
Intellectualism: Belief that all knowledge is derived from reason.
Liberalism: Doctrine of social change and tolerance.
Libertarianism: Doctrine that personal liberty is the highest value.
IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms
Magical realism/ Fabulism: Literary movement in which magical elements appear in realistic
circumstances.
Malism: Belief that the world is evil.
Materialism: Belief that matter is the only extant substance.
Modernism: Early 20th century movement. Encompassing primitivism, and reaction to science and
technology.
Mortalism: Belief that the soul is mortal.
Mutualism: Belief in mutual dependence of society and the individual.
Naturalism: Late 19th century movement. Belief that the world can be explained in terms of natural
forces.
Nihilism: Denial of all reality; extreme scepticism.
Objectivism: Doctrine that all reality is objective.
Optimism: Belief that we live in the best of all possible realities.
Pansexualism: Belief that all desire and interest is derived from sexual instinct.
Perfectionism: Doctrine that moral perfection constitutes the highest value.
Pessimism: Doctrine that the universe is essentially evil.
Postcolonialism: Movement of writers from former colonies of European countries, whose work
documents colonialism and imperialism; focused on the human consequences of the control and
exploitation of colonised people and their lands.
Postmodernism: Postwar and contemporary literature movement skeptical of absolutes and embracing
diversity, irony, and word play. Characterised by metafiction, unreliable narration, self- reflexivity,
intertextuality.
Pragmatism: Doctrine emphasising practical values of philosophy.
Primitivism: Doctrine that simple and natural life is morally ideal.
Psychomorphism: The attribution of mental processes (thoughts and feelings) to non- human entities.
Racism: Belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities.
IB English Literature/ Language and Literature Glossary of Terms
Rationalism: Belief that reason is the fundamental source of knowledge.
Realism: Late 29th century movement. Doctrine that objects of cognition are real.
Romanticism: Belief in sentimental feeling in artistic expression.
Sensationalism: Belief that ideas originate solely as a sensation.
Sexism: Belief in systematic inequalities between the sexes.
Skepticism: Doctrine that true knowledge is always uncertain.
Socialism: Doctrine of centralised state control of wealth and property.
Stoicism: Belief in indifference to pain or pleasure.
Subjectivism: Doctrine that all knowledge is subjective.
Utilitarianism: Belief that utility of actions determines moral value.
World War I: Namely British poets and writers who documented the idealism and horrors of warfare.
Voluntarism: Belief that the will dominates intellect.
Zoomorphism: Conception of a deity or man in animalistic form.
