感伤主义（德文:Empfindsamkeit）是个人主义发展的一个阶段，首先是在虔信派的宗教领域，之后发展到生活的各个方面。感伤主义可以被理解为一种世俗化的虔信派（Pietismus），它是通过对内心生活及狂热和感动等主观感情的观察和描述，来表明对于美德和其他道德典范的看法。在感伤主义中，内心的特有感觉被认真对待，甚至是狂热地崇拜这种内心感受，并反对通过宫廷礼仪中的等级观念来规范这种感觉。歌德的《少年维特之烦恼》是感伤主义的顶峰之作。

Sentimentalism is the practice of being sentimental, or the tendency to base actions and reactions from emotions and feelings as opposed to reason. As a literary mode, sentimentalism has been a recurring aspect of world literature, and is important to the traditions of India, China, and Vietnam. Sentimentalism may refer to a variety of aspects in literature, such as sentimental poetry, the sentimental novel, or the German sentimentalist music movement, Empfindsamkeit.