Vitalists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group or school of thought that emphasizes the importance of life force or vital energy in organisms
2. Individuals who advocate for the idea that living beings are driven by a distinct non-physical essence or principle
3. Proponents of a philosophy that argues for the fundamental significance of life force in understanding biological processes

Etymology: "Vitalists" is the plural of "vitalist", a noun for someone who holds that living things are animated by a vital force that cannot be reduced to physics and chemistry. The word is built from "vital" and the suffix "-ist", which marks a follower of a doctrine or a person who adheres to a particular belief. "Vital" comes from Latin "vitalis", meaning "of life", from "vita", life. The suffix "-ist" comes from Greek "-istēs", used to form nouns for practitioners or believers, so a vitalist is literally one who believes in life as a special principle. Because the term describes a belief system rather than a single discovery, its history lies in the debates it names, which were most heated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when scientists argued over whether organisms needed something beyond ordinary chemical forces.

Synonyms: life theorists, animists