ANIMISM • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Animism

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noun

Animism n.

The doctrine, taught by Stahl, that the soul is the proper principle of life and development in the body.

The belief that inanimate objects and the phenomena of nature are endowed with personal life or a living soul; also, in an extended sense, the belief in the existence of soul or spirit apart from matter.

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Etymology of 'Animism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Animism" Quotes from Famous Books

... themselves, these fragmentary indications become suggestive of much, when viewed in the light of such general evidence about the human imagination as is afforded by the theory of "comparative mythology," or what is called the theory of "animism." Only, in the application of these theories, the student of Greek religion must never forget that, after all, it is with poetry, not with systematic theological belief or dogma, that he has to do. As regards this story of Demeter and Persephone, ...

— Greek Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater

... scholastic entities, such as a plastic force, a vital principle, and the like, has been kept up even to the present day. The German physiology of the school of Oken, notwithstanding his acknowledged genius, is almost as metaphysical as Hegel, and there is in France a quite recent revival of the Animism of Stahl. These metaphysical explanations, besides their inanity, did serious harm, by directing the course of positive scientific inquiry into wrong channels. There was indeed nothing to prevent investigating ...

— Auguste Comte and Positivism • John-Stuart Mill

... houses of men. Some are mentioned in the old mythology, and are probably developments of Japanese ancestor-worship; some are of alien origin; some do not appear to have any temples; and some represent little more than what is called Animism. This class of divinities corresponds rather to the Roman dii genitales than to the Greek (Greek daemones). Suijin-Sarna, the God of Wells; Kojin, the God of the Cooking-range (in almost every kitchen ...

— Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation • Lafcadio Hearn

Words linked to "Animism" : animistic, ism, doctrine