Animism

Animism has been used in two distinct theories, both of which involve particular understandings of death. The term derives from Latin anima, usually translated “soul” (although this term too bears a wide range of meanings in different cultures and religions). Until recently, animism has meant a belief in the existence of a component that distinguishes living beings from inanimate matter. Most theorists have postulated metaphysical rather than physical factors, but in 1708 Georg Stahl (a German physician and chemist) theorized that a physical element, anima, vitalizes living bodies just as another element, phlogiston, enables some materials to burn or rust. His theory was soon rejected, but exemplifies a widespread interest in these issues.

In 1871 Edward Tylor (often considered the founder of anthropology) adopted Stahl's term animism to label what he saw as the central concerns and character of religion. For Tylor, animism identifies a “primitive” but ubiquitous religious mistake, namely, “the belief in souls or spirits.” He argued that all religions expressed the beliefs that living beings were animated by souls and that nonphysical beings, spirits of various kinds, could be communicated with. Religious believers imagine the existence of something that will survive the experience of death and, therefore, makes its possessors more than mere matter. Many think that humans alone possess souls but some attribute souls to other beings too. Tylor's “souls and spirits” thus include an expansive grouping of “entities that are beyond empirical study” (e.g., deities, angels, ancestors, ghosts). In other words, Tylor argued that such beliefs are wrong because such components of living beings and such metaphysical entities do not exist. However, he did not think these beliefs were irrational, only that people drew the wrong conclusions from their experiences of dreaming about meeting deceased relatives and from feverish encounters with strange beings. According to Tylor, religion was dying out because [Page 56]proper scientific knowledge was ousting these mistaken beliefs and providing better understandings of the world. In this first version of animism, the question asked is “How are living beings different from inanimate matter?”

Because this approach focuses on what makes living beings distinctive, it involves the idea that death is a contradiction. Either beings must somehow survive death or they must cease to be anything but inert matter at death. Recent developments in the related theory of panpsychism further problematize this by questioning whether matter is in fact inert and unconscious. If matter is inherently conscious, it becomes more difficult to divide mind from matter, and perception from physicality, for example.

Since the 1990s scholars have revisited the concept of animism and offered a different interpretation. In this, the key question animists ask is “How should we live with other beings?” That is, animists are people who understand the world to be a community of persons, most of whom are not human, but all of whom deserve respect. This new theory of animism is particularly helpful in understanding the worldviews and cultural practices of indigenous people, but it also casts light on important trends in Western culture. Although this theory is not so focused on the difference between life and death, animate beings and inanimate objects, it does raise important questions about the experience of death. If this animism is particularly interested in how people should relate to others, it is necessary to ask what happens to relationships when someone dies. Also, animists who seek to respect all beings might be expected to have a major problem with killing and eating those that they claim are also persons.

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