detachmentists

Detachmentists is a label used in different historical and cultural contexts to describe adherents of movements or ideologies that prize detachment—emotional, material, or political separation—from established authorities or attachments. There is no single organization known as the Detachmentists; the term arises from the common noun detachment and appears in scholarship, journalism, and literature to describe disparate groups or attitudes rather than a unified movement.

In religious and philosophical contexts, detachment is a classical virtue in traditions such as Stoicism, Buddhism, and Christian mysticism; observers have used detachmentists to refer to communities or individuals who practice rigorous non-attachment, sometimes praising or criticizing them depending on viewpoint.

In political or military discourse, the label has been used—often by critics—to describe groups perceived as disengaged from wider political processes or centralized power, including groups organized into detachments. The term is not standardized and can be pejorative or descriptive depending on context.

In contemporary discourse and fiction, Detachmentists may appear as a placeholder name for factions that advocate withdrawal from society, or as a trope for characters choosing self-imposed isolation. The ambiguity surrounding the term reflects its use across diverse fields rather than any fixed historical entity.

See also: Detachment; Non-attachment; Asceticism.