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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

ruinism en · NOUN

Etymology

From ruin + -ism.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) An ideology that leads to the destruction of society.
    • Ignorance, cast, and superstition abound in the south; Unitarianism and socialism in the east; Mormonism, Anarchism, and Romanism in the west; a stupendous race problem in the north; and ruinism both north and south and east and west. 1880, T. B. Cauldwell, Wisconsin Baptist anniversaries, page 113:
    • Some call the present trend collectivism, some call it statism, but I call it ruinism. . . . Taxes have now reached the confiscatory stage . . . The reckless spending of the Truman administration has precipitated a federal fiscal crisis which many of us may not fully realize . . . There are many doors to the house of socialism. 1952, Northwest Medicine, page 62:
    • Whether we call it Communism, Welfarism or Socialism, it leads to the same thing: ruinism. 1957, George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, The American Mercury - Volume 85, page 77:
  2. (uncountable) An enthusiasm for appreciating ruins or sites of destruction.
    • This is the inexplicable, says the Northern European: a Bauhaus of ruins. But there is no architecture in these rooms lacking arche. And no complacency for ruinism, a general lack of complacency. 2012, Jean-François Lyotard, Herman Parret, Miscellaneous Texts, →ISBN, page 219:
    • Already in the early 1960s, however, in the wake of John Cage's aleatoric compositions, some traces of 'ruinism' could be found, for instance, in Walter De Maria's radical proposal of May 1960 for an Art Yard, published in La Monte Young's An Anthology. 2011, Frederik Le Roy, Tickle Your Catastrophe!, →ISBN, page 34:
    • The growth of tourism and the increase in the number of “picturesque voyages” were likewise crucial factors, since “ruinism,” a style first manifested in the veduta (view), was particularly popular among travelers. 2013, Michel Delon, Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, →ISBN, page 1160:
    • At that time, "ruinism" actually became an artistic category, in demonstration of the depth of sentiment the ancient glories excited in the viewer's soul. 1991, Armando Ravaglioli, Rome, a Journey of Dreams, →ISBN:
  3. (uncountable) A prevailing belief in the imminent destruction of society or the environment; an apocalyptic worldview.
    • ALCHEMY OF DECAY AND RUINISM The post-communist prophets hone their sharp ironies, herald the coming of doomsday, draw apocalyptic visions. 1995, Vladislav Todorov, Red Square, Black Square: Organon for Revolutionary Imagination, page 182:
    • Gone are the dark days of myopic ruinism and the primitive huts of fragmented postmodern pessimism. As visionary idealists, we must escape the oppressive grip of cynical postmodern despair ... 1983, Arts & Architecture - Volume 2, page 14:
    • This important collection tracks the myriad forms of defensible spaces, from simple walls to phantasmagoric 'neo-ruinism.' 1997, Paul Rabinow, Architecture of fear (review on cover), page 322: