English

Noun

possibilist ‎(plural possibilists)

1. (philosophy) Someone who advocates possibilism, the position that things do not need to actually exist in order to have properties.
   • 2015 January 8, Leo Carton Mollica, “Explanation and nowness: an objection to the A-Theory”, in Philosophical Studies, DOI:10.1007/s11098-014-0430-9:

     Unless the actualist can adduce reasons to believe an explanation for @’s actuality, therefore, she will be at a disadvantage to the possibilist who believes all worlds to be on metaphysical par.

2. (socialism, historical) A socialist who advocates focusing on small, achievable forms of immediate progress rather than an all-or-nothing commitment to revolution.
   • 1991, Gary P. Steenson, After Marx, Before Lenin, page 130:

     As early as 1881, the possibilists had won considerable backing in Parisian municipal elections;

Antonyms

• (someone who believes that things do not need to exist in order to have properties): actualist
• (reformist socialist): impossibilist; revolutionary

Related terms

• possibilism

Translations