Animism definition

Animism

Topics Animism Definition

WordNet

(1) The doctrine that all natural objects and the universe itself have souls

"Animism is common among primitive peoples"

WiktionaryText

, from . Dated sense from , coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) See anima mundi.

A belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects or phenomena.
A belief that an immaterial force animates the universe.
A doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial spirit.