\Phi*lis"tin*ism\, n. The condition, character, aims, and habits of the class called Philistines. See {Philistine}, 3. [Recent] --Carlyle. On the side of beauty and taste, vulgarity; on the side of morals and feeling, coarseness; on the side of mind and spirit, unintelligence, -- this is Philistinism. --M. Arnold.