Animism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈænɪmɪzəm/

Definitions

1. A belief system that attributes souls or spirits to natural objects, phenomena, and living things
2. The doctrine that natural objects, forces, and phenomena possess innate spiritual essence or consciousness
3. A worldview attributing sentience and spiritual agency to non-human entities including animals, plants, landforms, and natural forces

Etymology: Georg Ernst Stahl, a German physician and chemist, coined the German "Animismus" around 1720 to describe his theory that the soul, which he called "anima," actively governs the body's functions, including its healing and its routine processes. He was not describing a belief about nature at all. The word began as a term for a medical doctrine about the human soul. The English term grew from that root. "Anima" is the Latin word for breath, life, and soul, and English "animism" was built from it by adding the suffix "-ism," which denotes a doctrine or system of belief. The broader sense, attributing spirits to plants, rocks, weather, and animals, came later, when anthropologists and writers used the word to describe beliefs they saw in cultures around the world. Edward Burnett Tylor popularised that wider use in the 19th century.

Synonyms: spiritualism, totemism

Antonyms: materialism