The belief that purposeful human effort can make the world better.
Reach for it when naming a hopeful philosophy that expects neither automatic progress nor impossible perfection
Her meliorism appeared in patient reforms that made each clinic visit safer.
| everyday | |
|---|---|
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal |
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| literary |
everyday
Fits when positive expectations about the future are central
Careful Optimism may rely on hope alone, while meliorism requires effort.
warm
Fits when possibility of a better outcome sustains action
Careful Hope is an emotion or orientation and may persist without a theory of human agency.
professional
gradualism
Fits when change proceeds through manageable steps
Careful Gradualism describes pace and can serve goals that are not meliorist.
professional
reformism
Fits when incremental institutional change is the chosen method
Careful Reformism is a political strategy and does not necessarily express a general belief in improvement.
formal
progressivism
Fits when social or political reform aims at improved conditions
Careful Progressivism carries specific political histories and commitments.
literary
perfectibilism
Fits when human beings are thought capable of indefinite moral improvement
Careful Perfectibilism makes a much stronger claim than meliorism's practical improvability.
practical meliorism
Practical meliorism led the group to test one reform at a time.
spirit of meliorism
A spirit of meliorism kept criticism connected to workable proposals.
democratic meliorism
Democratic meliorism trusts communities to improve institutions through participation.
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