aspheterism en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /æsˈfɛtəˌɹɪz(ə)m/ (General-American)
- (UK) audio
- /əsˈfɛtəˌɹɪz(ə)m/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓- (ă-, the alpha privative, a suffix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + σφέτερος (sphéteros, “theirs, their own”) (from σφεῖς (spheîs, “they; themselves”) + -τερος (-teros, suffix forming adjectives expressing some notion of contrast)) + -ism, influenced by σφετερισμός (spheterismós, “usurpation”). The word was coined by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) in a 1794 letter to fellow poet Robert Southey (1774–1843).
Meanings
-
(dated, rare, uncountable) The view that all property should be in common ownership and that no individual should benefit from private possession.
"Aspheterism," then, the belief that only an abolition of private property would bring about the desired moral transformation, lies at the very heart of Pantisocracy. [Robert] Southey and [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge believed that once people returned to sharing a "common ground," they would no longer feel envy or a need to compete. […] But "aspheterism" was not the only milestone on their path to universal philanthropy; it was accompanied by ideas about improving everyday interpersonal behaviour.
2016, Björn Bosserhoff, “Almost Susquehanna”, in Radical Contra-Diction: Coleridge, Revolution, Apostasy, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (Catching Fire: A Politico-biographical Account, 1792–96), page 64:In short he [Robert Southey] was always guided by his sympathies; and as he was never in his hottest days of Aspheterism anything like a consistent and reasoned Radical, so in his most rancorous days of reaction he never was a consistent and reasoned Tory.
1895 March, “Robert Southey”, in Macmillan’s Magazine, volume LXXI, number 425, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, page 351:A more free-wheeling verbal invention of [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge's, "Aspheterism," meant the absence of private property. "Aspheterism" would vanquish materialism and help raise a generation of children untainted by corrupt values.
2015, Sheldon Spear, “French and British Refugees on the Susquehanna”, in Pennsylvania Histories: Two Hundred Years of Personalities and Events 1750–1950, Lanham, Md.: Lehigh University Press; Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, →ISBN, section B (Events), page 80:We preached Pantisocracy and Aspheterism everywhere. These, Tom, are two new words, the first signifying the equal government of all, and the other the generalisation of individual property; words well understood in the city of Bristol.
Robert Southey ([1849?]), chapter III, in Charles Cuthbert Southey, editor, The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 75
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
wikipedia: Robert Southey · wikipedia: Samuel Taylor Coleridge · wikipedia: Granta