The term revisionism generally refers to a political philosophy or approach that holds that progress can be made, or historical truth can be corrected, through the application of a reinterpretation of history. This philosophy can take many different forms, but it is generally opposed todogmatism and state-sanctioned ideology.

Revisionism has a long and complicated history. It was born out of the ideas of philosopher Jacob Feuerbach and the Marxist theory of historical materialism. Feuerbach argued that human beings are shaped by their social environment, and that changing the social environment would change the way people think and behave.