Dictionary

simplism en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-der. Latin sem- Proto-Italic *-plosder. Latin -plus Latin simplusbor. Old French simplebor. Middle English symple English simple Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English simplism From simple + -ism.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications.
   • Their need for simplicity is met by politicians offering “simplism”: the ideology of simple answers for complex problems. 2023 October 21, Simon Kuper, “The end of reading and the rise of simplism”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17:
2. (countable, uncountable) An instance of a brief or reductive depiction that neglects the full nuance and complexity of a concept or issue, and that omits or overlooks important details.
   • 1969 Noel P. Fox Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court. October term Cases in which an injured employee of an independent contractor sues a landowner for injuries sustained as a result of claimed negligence on the part of the landowner lend themselves to temptations to simplism. It is important in these cases to distinguish between the problem of restricting liability to a negligent party, and the problem of restricting the liability of the defendant even though he was negligent. This distinction is one that is fundamental to an understanding of cases involving personal injuries for open and obvious dangers.
   • 1973 Robert King Merton. The sociology of science: theoretical and empirical investigations Further, it does not for a moment adopt the simplistic choice between arguing that the selection of problems for investigation was either entirely governed by economic and military concerns or was not at all influenced by such concerns. It rejects, in other words, the mock choice between a vulgar Marxism and an equally vulgar purism. The need for this evenhanded rejection of both simplisms is widely recognized today. But when the monograph was being written — during the Great Depression, it will be remembered — vulgar Marxism was just about the only variety of Marxism that was being expounded on the periphery of American academic circles.
   • 1848 Charles Julius Hempel The True Organization of the New Church The error into which Fourier's disciples are occasionally falling, is one which Fourier condemns in the most explicit and absolute terms; it is the error which Fourier designates by the term "simplism". Because a social reform is needful, therefore they argue, that is the only thing needful, forgetting that the development of humanity is of a compound, and not simple nature.

Forms

Relateds

simplistically · simplistic · simplisticness

Translations (7)

it semplicismo (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · fr simplisme (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · ca simplisme (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · gl simplismo (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · bg опростенчество (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · pt simplismo (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications) · es simplismo (trait of oversimplifying things by ignoring complexity and complications)