We explain what animism is, why it is not a religion, its beliefs and how it conceives death. Also, animism in philosophy.
What is animism?
Animism (from Latin encourage“soul”) It is a heterogeneous set of religious beliefs They have in common the idea that all things in the real world, from animals, plants and human beings, to inanimate objects and landscapes, have a soul life. That is to say, maintains that nature is populated by intelligent spirits or awakened mystical consciousnesses.
Animism is a fundamental feature of ancestral cultures or primitive peoples, which reflects their close imaginary link with the world: it is a look that recognizes around the recognizable presence of voices, intelligences and desires, which establish a dialogue with humanity. of some kind. That's why It is considered the founding germ of religions.
However, animism does not consist of a unified body of beliefs, but varies immensely depending on each people and each culture. That is why it cannot be fully considered a religion, at least in the same sense that modern religions do.
Aboriginal people do not even have a name for animism, since this concept is a later construction, the result of 19th century anthropology, and attributed to Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917).
Main beliefs of animism
As we have said, animism does not present a uniform and homogeneous body of beliefs, nor is it a unified religion. On the contrary, we speak of religious or mystical forms whose only point in common is the attribution of animate traits or consciousness to both non-human living beings and inanimate objects: Animists “dialogue” with plants and animals, as well as with rivers, stones, mountains or the moon.
That is to say, the gaze of animism finds, wherever it looks, a spirit or a soul from the natural world. That is why it proposes rites and rituals through which to ask for permission, ask for forgiveness or fulfill the desire of the souls.
Death in animism
For most animistic belief systems, Death represents the transition towards a lasting existence of the spirit whether on earth itself or in an afterlife of abundance.
In some cases, the former involves reincarnation into a specific animal or plant, in which the human soul can endure and be in contact with loved ones. In other cases, specific funeral rites are required, by a shaman or priest, to guide the spirit to its safe whereabouts.
Animism in philosophy
In the history of philosophy, the term “animism” has been used to refer to very different systems of thought, which have nothing to do with the mystical or religious animism that we have described here. For example, It was used to refer to the Aristotelian view of the human soul and body defended by the philosophical schools of the Stoics and the Scholastics.
It has also been proposed, along with the term vitalism, as the name of the medical doctrine in the 18th century by the German Georg Ernst Stahl (1659-1734), according to which the soul was the foundation and root of any state of health or condition. disease that manifests in the body.
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References
- “Animism” on Wikipedia.
- “Animism” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Animism” in Filosofía.org.
- “Animism” in Herder Encyclopedia.
- “Animism” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
