Animism

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Animism (from Latin anima "soul, life")[1] is the religious worldview that natural physical entities—
including animals, plants, and often even inanimate objects or phenomena—possess a spiritual essence.
[2][3]
Specifically, animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the religion of indigenous
tribal peoples,[4] especially prior to the development and/or infiltration of civilization[5] and organized
religion.[6][7] Although each tribe is unique in its specific mythologies and rituals, the term animism is
often used to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous tribespeoples' spiritual or
"supernatural" perspectives --- in a word, their worldview, or their "reality." Some members of the
civilized, non-tribal world also consider themselves animists (such as author Daniel Quinn, sculptor
Lawson Oyekan, and many Neopagans) and, of course, not all peoples who describe themselves as tribal
would describe themselves as animistic. In fact the tribal animistic perspective is so fundamental,
mundane, everyday and taken-for-granted that most animistic indigenous people do not even have a
word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or even "religion"); [8] the term is a purely
anthropological construct rather than one designated by tribespeople themselves. Largely due to such
ethnolinguistic and cultural discrepancies, opinion has differed—ever since Sir Edward Tylor's 19th-
century popularization of the term—on whether animism refers to merely a broadly religious belief or to
a full-fledged religion in its own right. [note 1]

Animism encompasses the beliefs that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical (or
material) world, and souls or spirits exist, not only in humans, but also in all other animals, plants, rocks,
geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment,[16]
including thunder, wind, and shadows. Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as
words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Examples of animism can be found in forms of Shinto,
Serer, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Pantheism, Paganism, and Neopaganism.

Throughout European history, philosophers such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, among others,
contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants, and people; however, the currently
accepted definition of animism was only developed in the 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, who created
it as "one of anthropology's earliest concepts, if not the first". [17]

According to the anthropologist Tim Ingold, animism shares similarities to totemism but differs in its
focus on individual spirit beings which help to perpetuate life, whereas totemism more typically holds
that there is a primary source, such as the land itself or the ancestors, who provide the basis to life.
Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian Aborigines are more typically totemic,
whereas others like the Inuit are more typically animistic in their worldview. [18]

Animism can be said to be the experience of being part of the biosphere, just as Christianity can be said
to be the experience of being part of the body of Christ.
Contents

 1 Etymology

 2 Motivation

 3 Animism and religion

o 3.1 Tylor's theory

o 3.2 World view

o 3.3 Death

o 3.4 Mythology

o 3.5 Distinction from Pantheism

 4 Science and animism

 5 Examples of animist traditions

 6 See also

 7 References

o 7.1 Notes

o 7.2 Bibliography

 8 Further reading

 9 External links

Etymology
Sir Edward Tylor was responsible for forming the definition of animism currently accepted in
anthropology.

The term animism appears to have been first developed as Animismus by German scientist Georg Ernst
Stahl, circa 1720, to refer to the "doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial soul." The actual
English language form of animism, however, can only be attested to 1819. [19] The term was taken and
redefined by the anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor in his 1871 book Primitive Culture, in which he defined
it as "the general doctrine of souls and other spiritual beings in general."

According to Tylor, animism often includes "an idea of pervading life and will in nature"; [20] i.e., a belief
that natural objects other than humans have souls. As a self-described "confirmed scientific rationalist",
Tylor believed that this view was "childish" and typical of "cognitive underdevelopment", [21] and that it
was therefore common in "primitive" peoples such as those living in hunter gatherer societies.

Tylor's definition of animism has since largely been followed by anthropologists, such as Émile
Durkheim, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Tim Ingold. However, some anthropologists, such as Nurit Bird-David,
have criticised the Tylorian concept of animism, believing it to be outdated. [22]

Motivation

Further information: anthropology of religion and psychology of religion

Animism in the broadest sense, i.e., thinking of objects as animate, and treating them as if they were
animate, is near-universal. Jean Piaget applied the term in child psychology in reference to an implicit
understanding of the world in a child's mind which assumes that all events are the product of intention
or consciousness. Piaget explains this with a cognitive inability to distinguish the external world from
one's internal world.
The justification for attributing life to objects was stated by David Hume in his Natural History of
Religion (Section III): "There is a universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like
themselves, and to transfer to every object those qualities with which they are familiarly acquainted,
and of which they are intimately conscious." [23]

Lists of phenomena, from the contemplation of which "the savage" was led to believe in animism, have
been given by Sir E. B. Tylor, Herbert Spencer, Andrew Lang, and others; a controversy arose between
the former as to the priority of their respective lists. [citation needed] Among these phenomena are trance
states, dreams, and hallucinations.[citation needed]

Animism and religion

Animist practices can involve ornate ritual, costume, and make-up

Animism is a belief held in many religions and mythologies around the world, and may or may not be,
depending upon opinion, regarded a religion on its own. [note 1] It is a belief, such as shamanism,
polytheism or monotheism, that is found in several religions.[citation needed] In modern usage, the term is
sometimes used improperly as a catch-all classification of "other world religions" alongside major
organized religions.

Tylor's theory

Some theories have been put forward that the anthropocentric belief in animism among early humans
was the basis for the later evolution of religions. In one such theory, put forward by Sir E. B. Tylor, early
humans initially, through mere observation, recognized what might be called a soul, life-force, spirit,
breath or animus within themselves; that which was present in the body in life and absent in death.
These early humans equated this soul with figures which would appear in dreams and visions. These
early human cultures later interpreted these spirits to be present in animals, the living plant world, and
even in natural objects in a form of animism. Eventually, these early humans grew to believe that the
spirits were invested and interested in human life, and performed rituals to propitiate them. These
rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of “developed” religions. According to
Tylor, the more scientifically advanced the society, the less that society believed in Animism; however,
any remnant ideologies of souls or spirits, to Tylor, represented “survivals” of the original animism of
early humanity.

World view

In many animistic world views found in hunter-gatherer cultures, the human being is often regarded as
on a roughly equal footing with other animals, plants, and natural forces. [24] Therefore, it is morally
imperative to treat these agents with respect. In this world view, humans are considered a part of
nature, rather than superior to, or separate from it.

Death

It is clear that widespread respect was paid to animals as the abode of dead ancestors, and many of the
cults to dangerous animals are traceable to this belief. [25] Thus, it is not surprising to find that many
peoples respect and even worship animals (see totem or animal worship), often regarding them as
relatives.

Mythology

A large part of mythology is based upon a belief in souls and spirits — that is, upon animism in its more
general sense. Urarina myths that portray plants, inanimate objects, and non-human animals as
personal beings are examples of animism in its more restrictive sense. [26]

Distinction from Pantheism

Animism is not the same as Pantheism, although the two are sometimes confused. Some faiths and
religions are even both pantheistic and animistic. One of the main differences is that while animists
believe everything to be spiritual in nature, they do not necessarily see the spiritual nature of everything
in existence as being united (monism), the way pantheists do. As a result, animism puts more emphasis
on the uniqueness of each individual soul. In Pantheism, everything shares the same spiritual essence,
rather than having distinct spirits and/or souls. [27][28]

Science and animism

Some early scientists such as Georg Ernst Stahl (1659-1734) and Francisque Bouillier (1813–1899) had
supported a form of animism which life and mind, the directive principle in evolution and growth,
holding that all cannot be traced back to chemical and mechanical processes, but that there is a
directive force which guides energy without altering its amount. An entirely different class of ideas, also
termed animistic, is the belief in the world soul anima mundi, held by philosophers such as Schelling and
others.[29][30] In the early 20th century William McDougall defended a form of animism in his book Body
and Mind: A History and Defence of Animism (1911).

The physicist Nick Herbert has argued for "quantum animism" in which mind permeates the world at
every level.[31] Werner Krieglstein wrote regarding his quantum animism:

Herbert's quantum animism differs from traditional animism in that it avoids assuming a dualistic model
of mind and matter. Traditional dualism assumes that some kind of spirit inhabitats a body and makes it
move, a ghost in the machine. Herbert's quantum animism presents the idea that every natural system
has an inner life, a conscious center, from which it directs and observes its action. [32]

The terms animism and panpsychism have become related in recent years. The biologist Rupert
Sheldrake has supported a form of animism which David Skrbina calls "a unique form of panpsychism".
Sheldrake in his book The Rebirth of Nature: New Science and the Revival of Animism (1991) has claimed
that Morphic fields "animate organisms at all levels of complexity, from galaxies to giraffes, and from
ants to atoms".[33] In his book The Science Delusion (2012) he wrote that the philosophy of the organism
(organicism) has updated the ideas of animism as it treats all of nature as alive. [34]

Examples of animist traditions

Further information: Folk religion and Shamanism

 Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, is highly animistic. In Shinto, spirits of nature, or kami,
are believed to exist everywhere, from the major (such as the goddess of the sun), which can be
considered polytheistic, to the minor, which are more likely to be seen as a form of animism.

 Many traditional beliefs in the Philippines still practised to an extent today are animist and
spiritist in origin in that there are rituals aimed at pacifying malevolent spirits or are apotropaic
in nature. An extension of this is the sacred cockfight, ”a popular form of fertility worship among
almost all Southeast Asians”[35] considered by some in the Judeo-Christian ethic as a form of
’fertility worship’ or Baalim. These beliefs have persisted despite (and have been influenced by)
the introduction of Islam and Catholicism to the islands in the 13th and 16th centuries,
respectively.

 There are some Hindu groups which may be considered animist. The coastal Karnataka has a
different tradition of praying to spirits (see also Folk Hinduism). Likewise a popular Hindu ritual
form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India is the Tabuh Rah blood offering to Theyyam
gods, despite being forbidden in the Vedic philosophy of sattvic Hinduism, Jainism and
Buddhism, Theyyam deities are propitiated through the cock sacrifice where the religious
cockfight is a religious exercise of offering blood to the Theyyam gods.

 Mun, (also called Munism or Bongthingism) is the traditional polytheistic, animist, shamanistic,
and syncretic of the Lepcha people.[36][37][38]
  Many traditional Native American religions are fundamentally animistic. See, for example, the
Lakota Sioux prayer Mitakuye Oyasin. The Haudenausaunee Thanksgiving Address, which can
take an hour to recite, directs thanks towards every being - plant, animal and other.

 The New Age movement commonly purports animism in the form of the existence of nature
spirits.[39]

 Modern Neopagans, especially Eco-Pagans, sometimes like to describe themselves as animists,

meaning that they respect the diverse community of living beings and spirits with whom
humans share the world/cosmos.[40]

 New tribalist American author Daniel Quinn identifies himself as an animist and defines animism
not as a religious belief but a religion itself,[41] though with no holy scripture, organized
institutions, or established dogma.[12] He considers animism the first worldwide religion,
common among all tribal societies before the advent of the Agriculture Revolution and its
resulting globalized culture, along with the proliferation of this culture's organized, "salvationist"
religions.[42] His first discussions of animism appear in his two 1994 books: his novel, The Story of
B, and his autobiography, Providence: The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest.

 The Aluk religion in the Toraja society and the people of Tana Toraja, embrace religious rituals
such as the funeral ceremony where a sacred cockfight, known as bulangan londong or saung, is
an integral part of the ceremony and considered sacred because of the spilling of blood on the
earth in spiritual appeasement.[43]

See also

General

Philosophy portal

Mythology portal

Religion portal

Spirituality portal

 Anecdotal cognitivism

 Animatism

 Celtic polytheism

 Fairies

 Folk religion
  Hyang (Indonesian mythology)

 Hylozoism

 Mana

 Nature worship

 Panpsychism

 Ryukyuan Shinto

 Shamanism in Siberia

 Shamanism

 Shinto

 Tree worship

 Wildlife totemization

 Witchcraft

Related

 Monotheism

 Pantheism

 Polytheism

 Tengriism

 Theism

References

Notes

1. ^ a b There is ongoing disagreement (and no general consensus) as to whether animism

is merely a singular, broadly encompassing religious belief [9][10] or a complete religion in
and of itself,[11][12] comprising many diverse mythologies found worldwide in many
diverse cultures. This also raises a controversy regarding the ethical claims animism may
or may not make: whether animism ignores questions of ethics altogether[13] or, by
endowing various non-human elements of nature with spirituality or personhood, [14] in
fact promotes a complex ecological ethics.[15]

1. ^ Segal, p. 14.
2. ^ Harvey, Graham (2006). Animism: Respecting the Living World. Columbia University
Press. p. 9.

3. ^ Haught, John F. (1990). What Is Religion?: An Introduction. Paulist Press. p. 19.

4. ^ Hicks, David (2010). Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion (3 ed.).
Rowman Altamira. p. 359. "Tylor's notion of animism—for him the first religion—
included the assumption that early Homo sapiens had invested animals and plants with
souls...."

5. ^ Bourne, Edward J. (2009). Global Shift: How A New Worldview Is Transforming

Humanity. New Harbinger Publications. p. 199.

6. ^ "Animism". Contributed by Helen James; coordinated by Dr. Elliott Shaw with

assistance from Ian Favell. ELMAR Project (University of Cumbria). 1998/9.

7. ^ Curry, James R. (2008). Children of God; Children of Earth. Bloomington, Indiana:

AuthorHouse. p. 9. "Animism...did not provide a moral code; it was (and is) without
ethical thoughts motives. The development of organized religion apparently proceeded
from this latter need."

8. ^ "Native American Religious and Cultural Freedom: An Introductory Essay". The

Pluralism Project. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Diana Eck. 2005.

9. ^ David A. Leeming; Kathryn Madden, Stanton Marlan (2009-11-06). Encyclopedia of

Psychology and Religion. Springer. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-387-71801-9.

10. ^ Insoll, Timothy (2004). Archaeology, Ritual, Religion. Psychology Press. p. 144.

11. ^ Harvey (2006), p. 6.

12. ^ a b Quinn, Daniel (2012). "Q and A #400". Ishmael.org.

13. ^ Edward Burnett Tylor (1920). Primitive culture: researches into the development of
mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art, and custom. J. Murray. p. 360.

14. ^ Clarke, Peter B., and Peter Beyer, eds. (2009). The World's Religions: Continuities and
Transformations. London: Routledge, p. 15.

15. ^ Curry, Patrick (2011). Ecological Ethics (2 ed.). Cambridge: Polity. pp. 142–3.

16. ^ "The concept that humans possess souls and that souls have life apart from human
bodies before and after death is central to animism, along with the ideas that animals,
plants, and celestial bodies have spirits" (Wenner).

17. ^ Bird-David, 1999: p. 67.

18. ^ Ingold, Tim. (2000). "Totemism, Animism and the Depiction of Animals" in The
Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London:
Routledge, pp. 112-113.

19. ^ Harper, Douglas. (2001). http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=animism

20. ^ Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1871). Primitive Culture: Researches Into the Development of
Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. J. Murray. p. 260.

21. ^ Bird-David, 1999: pp. 67-68

22. ^ Bird-David, N. (1999) “Animism” revisited: On Personhood, Environment and

Relational Epistemology, Current Anthropology, 40s:S67-S91

23. ^ David Hume (2007-06-30). The Natural History of Religion. NuVision Publications, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-59547-901-3.

24. ^ Fernandez-Armesto, p. 138.

25. ^ "Animism", Encyclopædia Britannica.

26. ^ Bartholomew Dean (2009-11-15). Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian
Amazonia. ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5.

27. ^ Paul A. Harrison Elements of Pantheism 2004, p. 11

28. ^ Carl McColman When Someone You Love Is Wiccan: A Guide to Witchcraft and
Paganism for Concerned Friends, Nervous parents and Curious Co-Workers 2002, p. 97

29. ^ Émile Durkheim, Neil Gross, Robert Alun Jones Durkheim's Philosophy Lectures 2004,
p. 286

30. ^ Animism, Vitalism, And The Medical University Of Montpellier

31. ^ 2006 190

32. ^ Werner J. Krieglstein Compassion: a new philosophy of the other 2002, p. 118

33. ^ David Skrbina Panpsychism in the West 2005, p. 200

34. ^ Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. (2012-02-14). The Science Delusion. Coronet. ISBN 978-1-
4447-2792-0.

35. ^ Nat in My Classroom! Using Spirit Worship to Infuse Southeast Asia into the K-16
Classroom - Marc Jason Gilbert, Department of History and Sociology, North Georgia
College and State University, Dahlonega, Georgia [1]
 36. ^ Hamlet Bareh, ed. (2001). Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Sikkim. Encyclopaedia of
North-East India. 7. Mittal Publications. pp. 284–86. ISBN 8170997879.

37. ^ Torri, Davide (2010). "10. In the Shadow of the Devil. traditional patterns of Lepcha
culture reinterpreted". In Fabrizio Ferrari. Health and Religious Rituals in South Asia.
Taylor & Francis. pp. 149–156. ISBN 1136846298.

38. ^ Barbara A. West, ed. (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Facts on
File library of world history. Infobase Publishing. p. 462. ISBN 1438119135.

39. ^ Wouter J. Hanegraaff New Age religion and Western culture 1998, p. 199

40. ^ Murphy Pizza, James R. Lewis Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, 2008, pp. 408-
409

41. ^ Quinn, Daniel (1997). Ishmael.org "Q and A #75". Ishmael.org.

42. ^ Quinn, Daniel. The Story of B. New York: Bantam Books. 1997

43. ^ incito tour - PT. INCITO PRIMA - Re: Funeral Ceremony in Toraja - Authorized by:
Department of Law and Human Rights of Republic of Indonesia [2]

Bibliography

 Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other
Pagans in America. Penguin, 2006.

 "Animism". The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2001-07. Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com Inc. (10
July 2008).

 Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Ballantine Books, 1994.

 Bird-David, Nurit. 1991. "Animism Revisited: Personhood, environment, and relational

epistemology", Current Anthropology 40, pp. 67–91. Reprinted in Graham Harvey (ed.) 2002.
Readings in Indigenous Religions (London and New York: Continuum) pp. 72–105.

 Cunningham, Scott. Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. Llewellyn, 2002. --
[unreliable source?]

 Dean, Bartholomew 2009 Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia,
Gainesville: University Press of Florida ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5, [3].

 Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Ideas that Changed the World. Dorling Kindersley, 2003.

 Higginbotham, Joyce (2002). Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions'. Llewellyn.

[unreliable source?]
  'Lamphun's Little-Known Animal Shrines' (Animist traditions in Thailand) in: Forbes, Andrew, and
Henley, David, Ancient Chiang Mai Volume 1. Chiang Mai, Cognoscenti Books, 2012.

 Segal, Robert (2004). Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

 Wenner, Sara. "Basic Beliefs of Animism". Emuseum. 2001. Minnesota State University, (10 July
2008).

Further reading

 Hallowell, A. Irving. "Ojibwa ontology, behavior, and world view" in Stanley Diamond (ed.) 1960.
Culture in History (New York: Columbia University Press). Reprinted in Graham Harvey (ed.)
2002. Readings in Indigenous Religions (London and New York: Continuum) pp. 17–49.

 Harvey, Graham. 2005. Animism: Respecting the Living World (London: Hurst and co.; New York:
Columbia University Press; Adelaide: Wakefield Press).

 Ingold, Tim: 'Rethinking the animate, re-animating thought'. Ethnos, 71(1) / 2006: pp. 9–20.

 Wundt, W. (1906). Mythus und Religion, Teil II. Leipzig 1906 (Völkerpsychologie, volume II).

 Quinn, Daniel. The Story of B

 Käser, Lothar: Animismus. Eine Einführung in die begrifflichen Grundlagen des Welt- und
Menschenbildes traditionaler (ethnischer) Gesellschaften für Entwicklungshelfer und kirchliche
Mitarbeiter in Übersee. Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Liebenzell 2004, ISBN 3-921113-61-X.

o mit dem verkürzten Untertitel Einführung in seine begrifflichen Grundlagen auch bei:
Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Okumene, Neuendettelsau 2004, ISBN 3-87214-609-2.

 Badenberg, Robert: "How about 'Animism'? An Inquiry beyond Label and Legacy". In: Mission als
Kommunikation. Festschrift für Ursula Wiesemann zu ihrem 75.Geburtstag, edited by Klaus W.
Müller. VTR, Nürnberg 2007; ISBN 978-3-937965-75-8 and VKW, Bonn 2007; ISBN 978-3-938116-
33-3.

External links

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 Animism, Rinri, Modernization; the Base of Japanese Robotics

  Urban Legends Reference Pages: Weight of the Soul [4]

 Animist Network

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