vitalism

American  

[vahyt-l-iz-uhm] / ˈvaɪt lˌɪz əm /

1. the doctrine that phenomena are only partly controlled by mechanical forces, and are in some measure self-determining.

2. Biology. a doctrine that ascribes the functions of a living organism to a vital principle distinct from chemical and physical forces.

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vitalism British  

/ ˈvaɪtəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the philosophical doctrine that the phenomena of life cannot be explained in purely mechanical terms because there is something immaterial which distinguishes living from inanimate matter Compare dynamism mechanism

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vitalistically
  adverb
• vitalistic
  adjective
• vitalist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of vitalism

First recorded in 1815–25; vital + -ism

Example Sentences

Still significant, but no longer raging among scientists, is the Vitalism v.

From Time Magazine Archive

In his “Cellular Pathologie,”76 and in an essay on “The Old Vitalism and the New,”77 he puts in a word for a vis vitalis.

From Naturalism And Religion by Otto, Rudolf

Since the discovery of Evolution as the method of the Life Force the religion of metaphysical Vitalism has been gaining the definiteness and concreteness needed to make it assimilable by the educated critical man.

From Back to Methuselah by Shaw, Bernard

It is curious that the writer in question does not seem to have been in any way influenced by the eliminative argument so potent in connection with the discussion on Vitalism.

From Science and Morals and Other Essays by Windle, Bertram Coghill Alan, Sir

We may now turn to the question of Vitalism.

From Science and Morals and Other Essays by Windle, Bertram Coghill Alan, Sir