casuistry
English
WOTD – 20 January 2013, 20 January 2015
Etymology
From casuist + -ry. First recorded use in 1725.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkæzjuːɪstɹi/, /ˈkæʒjuːɪstɹi/, /ˈkæʒuːɪstɹi/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkæʒuːəstɹi/
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- Hyphenation: ca‧su‧ist‧ry
Noun
casuistry (countable and uncountable, plural casuistries)
- The process of answering practical questions via interpretation of rules, or of cases that illustrate such rules, especially in ethics; case-based reasoning.
- Synonym: casuistics
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 1000392275, page 85:
- The letters of Margarita were all that the fondest lover could desire, the eye of a poet linger on, but they did not contain the casuistry which could lead Glentworth to renounce a faith which he had now been led to examine in a manner he had certainly never done before.
- 1968, Sidney Monas (translator), Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment 1866.
- And yet it would seem that the whole analysis he had made, his attempt to find a moral solution to the problem, was complete. His casuistry had been honed to a razor’s edge, and he could no longer think of any objections.
- 1995, Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2, New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, →ISBN, page 47:
- “And if you lose?” Diana enunciated, through a thin grin. She meant to extract casuistry’s penalty in advance.
- (derogatory) A specious argument designed to defend an action or feeling.
- Synonyms: excuse, legalism, rationalization, sophistry
- Hyponym: euhemerization
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:
- I felt it was hopeless to argue against casuistry of this nature, which, if it were carried to its logical conclusion, would absolutely destroy all morality, as we understand it.
Related terms
- casuist
- casuistic
- casuistical
- casuistically
- casuistics
Translations
process
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Further reading
casuistry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia