Rigorism - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

RIGORISM (Lat. rigor, stiffness, firmness), a philosophical term applied by Kant specially to those moralists who take up an anti-hedonist or ascetic standpoint. In general the term is opposed to "latitudinarianism" or "indifferentism," - respectively a morality of compromise and a morality of pure indifference, - and signifies insistence upon the strictest interpretation of a principle, rule or criterion. Thus, in Roman Catholic theology, a rigorist holds that in cases of conscience the proper course is to adhere to the strict wording of the law in question.