Word: transformationalism Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From transformational + -ism. 1. Adherence to transformational grammars. Labels: uncountable Example: For quite different reasons neither Chomsky nor Lakoff has offered good evidence for considering the Port-Royal Grammar to be an early essay in transformationalism, but the evidence they do offer raises many interesting questions about the interpretation of the Grammar (and the Logic) specifically, about the history of thought about language, and, more surprisingly, about the fundamental concepts of twentieth-century transformational grammar. Example: Thus one might speak here of syntactic transformationalism on the one hand and semantic transformationalism on the other. 2. A fusion of evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and ecumenism that became prominent in the early 21st century; transformational Christianity. Labels: uncountable Example: Their position denies the general revelation of God given in the other religions, while inclusive transformationalism acknowledges the relative usefulness and values that other religions have, even though they do not bring salvation. Example: Unlike ecumenism, transformationalism is not an expression of denominational uniformity, but an expression of interdenominational alliances. 3. A sociological and educational theory that focuses on the process of learned concepts and skills to reframe and transform unthinking culturally-generated assumptions and cognitive categories. Labels: uncountable Example: "That's why you need Transformationalism," he said. "Your mind has to evolve to match this permanent situation of permanent change. You've got to get rid of that instantaneous personality that was frozen in a previous cultural matrix that no longer exists...." Example: According to Mezirow (2000), transformationalism helps adults make sense of their environment so they can act upon it. This is a complex process in which the personalities of the teachers and learners interact with the educational setting and the political environment. Learners examine themselves and the beliefs they bring to the learning experience. 4. The belief in the transformative power of Confucian culture as a superior system that can be universally applied to all people. Labels: historical, uncountable Example: While the supplanted transformationalism was not specifically Neo-Confucian, a central prop of the newly elevated emperorship affirmed a Han-dynasty contention that Zhu Xi had opposed. Example: So long as late Qing transformationalism based on allegiance to Confucian values prevailed, the grounds nationalists were seeking for uniting those identified as "Chinese" against those identified as "Manchus", "Mongols," "Uigurs," "Tibetans," and even Chinese Muslims. 5. A political theory that emphasizes assimilation as a process of global cultural convergence. Labels: uncountable Example: The difference is still significant, however, in circumstances where the possibility of widespread adherence to an extensive set of obligations is unlikely, for "transformationalism" would support the watering down of the regime in exchange for broader membership, in the belief that the operation of the regime will, over time, increase the convergence of interests. Example: The third perspective of globalisation, transformationalism, recognises the contingency of action and the historicity of structure as enabling and constraining globalisation. 6. A theory proposed by Robinet in the 18ᵗʰ century that posits a single, created prototype for all species of plants and animals. Labels: historical, uncountable Example: The main strength of the text, however, lies not so much with the reductio ad absurdum of the world soul hypotheses, but in its critical assessment of Leibniz's monadology and Robinet's biological transformationalism, on the one hand, and in Ploucquet's own theory of finite substances as 'real images', imagines reales, of the infinite divine force, on the other hand; in short, in his own alternative of natural philosophy. Example: In historical terms, Diderot's full-fledged, materialistic hylozoism apparently relies on Locke's hypothesis concerning thinking matter, on Toland's theory of essentially active matter, on Maupertuis's theory of the spontaneous creative degeneration of the embryo, and probably on Robinet's biological transformationalism as well.