ANIMISM
\ˈanɪmˌɪzəm], \ˈanɪmˌɪzəm], \ˈa_n_ɪ_m_ˌɪ_z_ə_m]\
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Theory which regards the belief in spirits, that appear in dreams, etc., as the germ of religious ideas.
By Daniel Lyons
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Belief in spiritual existence, as the soul of man or the world soul of Greek philosophy.
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A widely prevalent form of polytheism, which attributes a soul to the lower animals, to inanimate objects, and to natural phenomena, as winds, storms, etc.
By James Champlin Fernald
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The theory which refers organized life and its movements to a separately existing immaterial principle or soul: the related theory which refers derangement in the organism to derangement in the soul; the theory which refers religious ideas to this belief.
By Nuttall, P.Austin.
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A doctrine which considered the soul (assumed to be an isolable entity) to be the cause of every vital phenomenon, whether in health or in disease, widely prevalent among primitive peoples and surprisingly persistent in the interpretation of many so-called occult phenomena. [Lat.]
By Smith Ely Jelliffe
