noun. The belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena.

noun. The belief in the existence of spiritual beings that are separable or separate from bodies.

noun. The hypothesis holding that an immaterial force animates the universe.

noun. The hypothesis, original with Pythagoras and Plato, of a force (anima mundi, or soul of the world) immaterial but inseparable from matter, and giving to matter its form and movements.

noun. The theory of vital action and of disease propounded by the German chemist G. E. Stahl (1660–1734); the theory that the soul (anima) is the vital principle, the source of both the normal and the abnormal phenomena of life.

noun. The general conception of or the belief in souls and other spiritual beings; the explanation of all the phenomena in nature not due to obvious material causes by attributing them to spiritual agency.

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

noun. 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.

noun. A belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects or phenomena.

noun. A belief that an immaterial force animates the universe.

noun. A doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial spirit.

noun. the doctrine that all natural objects and the universe itself have souls

"Today the term animism has fallen into disuse among serious scholars of religion although it is still retained by some MISSIOLOGISTS."

doctrine  ism  philosophical system  philosophy  school of thought  

antinomianism  conjuration  consumerism  demonology  exhibitionism  

Berkeleianism  Hegelianism  Kantianism  Neoplatonism  Platonic form