casuistics (kazuistiks)

[Pl. of casuistic: see - ics.] Casuistry. The question is raised in the casuistics of Mohammedan ritual, whether it is right to eat the flesh of the Nesnás. Pop . Sci . Mo., XXI. 660. casuistry (kaz'u-ist-ri), n.; pl. casuistries (-riz). [ conscience. In the history of Jewish and Christian theology, casuistry has often degenerated into hair-splitting and sophistical arguments, in which questions of right and wrong were construed to meet selfish aims. All that philosophy of right and wrong which has become famous or infamous under the name of casuistry had its origin in the distinction between mortal and venial Cambridge E ays , 1856. sin. duties? R. Choate , Addre es, p. 329. May he not have thought that he found there some stupendous exemplifications of what we read of, in books of casuistry , the "dialectics of conscience," as conflicts of Hence-2. Over-subtle and dishonest reason- ing; sophistry. casula (kas'ö-lä), n. [ML. (> E. casule), dim. of L. casa , a house; cf. ca ock , chasuble .] A Casuariidæ (kas ū-a-rī'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., Casuarius + -ida .] 1. A family of struthious birds, of the order or subcla Ratitæ , having three toes, the wings rudimentary, and the af- tershafts of the feathers highly developed. It priest's vestment; a chasuble. is confined to the Australian and Papuan regions, and is divided into the Casuariinæ and the Dromaine, two sub families which contain the ca owaries and the emus re spectively. See cuts under ca owary and emu. 2. The Casuariinæ alone, elevated to the rank of a family, the emus in this case being separated as another family, Dromaida.