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

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)

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

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 Holmes, Edmond

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 Russell, George William Erskine