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Philistinism affords a contrast to Bohemianism, as the character of a smugly conventional bourgeois social group perceived to lack all the desirably soulful 'bohemian' characteristics, especially an artistic temperament and a broad cultural horizon open to the avant-garde. To the chosen few, the 'Philistines' embodied a smug, anti-intellectual threatening majority, in the 'culture wars' of the 19th century.
A Philistine in Old Testament terms was a pagan inhabitant of the southwestern coastal cities of Canaan, such as Gaza. The Philistines were the neighbors and enemies of the Hebrews. The word came from Hebrew pelishtim, the people of 'Pelesheth' ('Philistia'). The word Philister ( Luther'sFor other people named Martin Luther see: Martin Luther (disambiguation Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder ( November 10, 1483 February 18, 1546) was a German theologian of the Christian religion and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Pr translation) was taken up in German student slang, supposedly first in JenaSee also Jena, Louisiana, United States. Jena is a city in central Germany on the River Saale in Thuringia. Its population is 101,325 (as of 30 June 2003). History On October 14, 1806 Napoleon fought and defeated the Prussian army here ( Battle of Jena-Au in the late 17th century, as a dismissive term for the townspeople (compare the American college slang, 'townies,') It is said that at a memorial service for a student killed in a town-gown clash, the minister took for his text the words of Delilah to Samson,'The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!' .
Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift ( November 30, 1667 October 19, 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer and satirist. Jonathan Swift was born, after his father had been dead for seven months, to an English mother, and educated by his Uncle Godwin. After a not very successful care applied the term to a gruff bailiff in a lawsuit, and Richard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley Sheridan ( October 30, 1751 July 7, 1816) was an Irish playwright and politician. Sheridan was baptized in Dublin on November 4, 1751, his father Thomas being an actor-manager who managed the Theatre Royal, Dublin for a time, and his moth applied the term to one of his characters, 'that bloodthirsty Philistine, Sir Lucius O'Trigger,' in The RivalsThe Rivals a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17th January 1775. History The Rivals was written quickly, and Sheridan hoped to make at least six hundred pounds. Its first performance was a f, 1775, but 'Philistine' really came to have its modern English secondary meaning, of a person deficient in the culture of the Liberal Arts beginning in the 1820s. Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold ( 1822- 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic, who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School who was celebrated in the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays''. Matthew Arnold him was the champion of Victorian 'high culture' countering the forces of the Philistines. In his Essays in Criticism (1865) he pointed out (in his essay on the German poet Heinrich HeineChristian Johann Heinrich Heine ( December 13, 1797 February 17, 1856) was one of the most significant German romantic poets. Heine was born into an assimilated Jewish family in Dusseldorf, Germany. His father was a tradesman, who, during the French occup) that ' 'Philistine' must have originally meant, in the mind of those who invented the nickname, a strong, dogged, unenlightened opponent of the children of the light.' In fact German students applied it to the long-suffering townspeople of university towns. In another context Arnold wrote, 'The people who believe most that our greatness and welfare are proved by our being very rich... are just the very people whom we call the Philistines.' From his example, 'Philistine' passed into the enlightened liberal's armament of cultural scorn.Compare barbarian, boor , churl, vulgarian , yahoo.