Meliorism

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

  optimism

  positive expectations about the future are central

  not when Optimism may rely on hope alone, while meliorism requires effort.

• warm

  hope

  possibility of a better outcome sustains action

  not when Hope is an emotion or orientation and may persist without a theory of human agency.

• professional

  gradualism

  change proceeds through manageable steps

  not when Gradualism describes pace and can serve goals that are not meliorist.

• professional

  reformism

  incremental institutional change is the chosen method

  not when Reformism is a political strategy and does not necessarily express a general belief in improvement.

• formal

  progressivism

  social or political reform aims at improved conditions

  not when Progressivism carries specific political histories and commitments.

• literary

  perfectibilism

  human beings are thought capable of indefinite moral improvement

  not when Perfectibilism makes a much stronger claim than meliorism's practical improvability.

• pessimism
• fatalism
• defeatism
• nihilism

• 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.