Concept

Fundamentalism

Overview

Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing one's ingroup and outgroup,

which leads to an emphasis on some conception of "purity", and a desire to return to a previous ideal from which advocates believe members have strayed. The term is usually used in the context of religion to indicate an unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs (the "fundamentals").

The term "fundamentalism" is generally regarded by scholars of religion as referring to a largely modern religious phenomenon which, while itself a reinterpretation of religion as defined by the parameters of modernism, reifies religion in reaction against modernist, secularist, liberal and ecumenical tendencies developing in religion and society in general that it perceives to be foreign to a particular religious tradition. Depending upon the context, the label "fundamentalism" can be a pejorative rather than a neutral characterization, similar to the ways that calling political perspectives "right-wing" or "left-wing" can have negative connotations.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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All known religious beliefs, whether simple or complex, present one common characteristic: they presuppose a classification of all the things, real and ideal, of which men think, into two classes or opposed groups, generally designated by two distinct terms which are translated well enough by the words _profane_ and _sacred_ (_profane_, _sacré_). This division of the world into two domains, the one containing all…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Fundamentalism is.
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People are slow to give admiration for fear it should be misplaced; they are slow to bestow affection for fear that they should be made to suffer either by the person upon whom they bestow it or by a censorious world. Caution is enjoined both in the name of morality and in the name of worldly wisdom, with the result that generosity and adventurousness are discouraged where the affections are concerned. All this…
Bertrand Russell, The conquest of happiness
States what Fundamentalism is.
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Then the following equations follow from the transformation? equations (12), (10), (11) in § 4, when we replace q, _r__{_v_}, _r__{_ṽ_}, _t_, _r′__{_v_}, _r′__{_ṽ_}, _t’_ by |_u_|, C_{_u_}, C_{_ū_}, ρ, C′_{_u_}, C′_{_ū_}, ρ′ ρ′ = (-|_u_| C_{_u_} + ρ)/√(1 - _u²_), C’_{_u_} = (C_{_u_} - |_u_|ρ)/√(1 - _u²_), C′_{_ū_} = C_{_ū_}, E) (C_{_u_} - |_u_|ρ)/√(1 - _u²_) = σ(E + [_u_M])_{_u_}, C_{_ū_} = σ (E + [_u_M])_{_u_}/√(1…
Albert Einstein, The Principle of Relativity
Close in meaning to Fundamentalism; the term itself is not named.
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Philosophers who discussed Fundamentalism

Islam

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Outline of philosophy.

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