Animism

Origin

anima + -ism, from Latin anima ("life", "breath", "soul"). Dated sense from German Animismus, coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) See anima mundi.

Full definition of animism

Noun

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