- ə lˌizəm noun
( -s )
Etymology: transcendental (I) + -ism
1.
a.
(1) : a philosophic tendency or doctrine of Kantianism emphasizing a priori conditions of knowledge and experience or the unknowable character of ultimate reality
(2) : a doctrine of post-Kantian idealism that emphasizes what transcends sense experience as being fundamental in reality
b. : a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual and the intuitive over the material and the empirical ; especially : the 19th century New England movement stressing the presence of the divine within man as a source of truth and a guide to action
2. : the quality or state of being transcendental ; especially : visionary idealism of character or thought