Naivety (also spellednaïvety),naiveness, ornaïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack ofexperience and sophistication, often describing a neglect ofpragmatism in favor ofmoral idealism. Anaïve may be called anaïf.
In its early use, the wordnaïve meant "natural or innocent", and did not connote ineptitude. As a Frenchadjective, it is spellednaïve, forfeminine nouns, andnaïf, formasculine nouns. As a French noun, it is spellednaïveté.
It is sometimes spelled "naïve" with adiaeresis, but as an unitalicized English word, "naive" is now the more usual spelling.[1] "naïf" often represents the French masculine, but has a secondary meaning asan artistic style. “Naïve” is pronounced as two syllables, in the French manner, and with the stress on the second one.
The naïf appears as a cultural type in two main forms. On the one hand, there is 'the satirical naïf, such asCandide'.[2]Northrop Frye suggested we might call it "theingénu form, afterVoltaire's dialogue of that name. "Here an outsider ... grants none of the premises which make the absurdities of society look logical to those accustomed to them",[3] and serves essentially as a prism to carry the satirical message.Baudrillard indeed, drawing on hisSituationist roots, sought to position himself as ingénu in everyday life: "I play the role of the Danube peasant: someone who knows nothing but suspects something is wrong ... I like being in the position of the primitive ...playing naïve".[4]
On the other hand, there is the artistic "naïf - all responsiveness and seeming availability".[5] Here 'the naïf offers himself as being in process of formation, in search of values and models...always about to adopt some traditional "mature" temperament'[6] - in a perpetual adolescentmoratorium. Such instances of "the naïf as a cultural image... offered themselves as essentially responsive to others and open to every invitation... established their identity in indeterminacy".[6]
