APATHY, a moral Insensibility; or a Privation of all Passion, all Motion, or Perturbation of Mind. See PASSION. The Stoics affected an entire Apathy: their wise Man was to enjoy a perfect Calmness or Tranquility of Mind, incapable of being ruffled, and above the reach of any Sense either of Pleasure or Pain. See STOICS, PLEASURE, and PAIN. The Word is formed of the privative Particle ἀ, and πάθος, Passion. In the first Ages of the Church the Christians adopted the Term Apathy, to express a Contempt of all earthly Concerns; a State of Mortification, such as the Gospel prescribes. And hence we find the Word often used among the devouter Writers: Clemens Alexandrinus, in particular, brought it exceedingly in vogue; thinking hereby to draw the Philosophers to Christianity, who aspired after such a sublime pitch of Virtue.
Quietism is only Apathy disguised under the appearance of Devotion. See QUIETISM.
APATHY
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- Written by: Ephraïm Chambers
- Category: Unclassified