personalism

American  

[pur-suh-nl-iz-uhm] / ˈpɜr sə nlˌɪz əm /

noun

1. Also called personal idealism.  a modern philosophical movement locating ultimate value and reality in persons, human or divine.

2. Psychology. an approach stressing individual personality as the central concern of psychology.

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personalism British  

/ ˈpɜːsənəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a philosophical movement that stresses the value of persons

2. an idiosyncratic mode of behaviour or expression

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Other Word Forms

• personalist noun
• personalistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of personalism

First recorded in 1840–50; personal + -ism

Example Sentences

Plath and Swift, Nelson argues, have been judged by “the same script that has greeted female profusion, personalism, and ambition literally for millennia.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025

As pacifists, personalism gives a pathway for heroism even when the struggle — the struggle to stop the war — is lost.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2022

Since the invasion, other experts who have studied personalism have weighed in to flesh out the picture, and to highlight that personalism is particularly dangerous when combined with the politics of oil.

From Salon • Mar. 20, 2022

But personalism insists that money is never enough.

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2021

But while it is compatible with a robust faith in the powers of the constructive intellect, personalism is beyond question a self-sufficient, independent, individualistic doctrine.

From Outspoken Essays by Inge, William Ralph