hylozoism
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.3|Sphera volgare, featuring the Sun, the [[Moon, the winds and the stars as living. Woodcut illustration from an edition of De sphaera mundi, Venice, 1537.]]
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Hylozoism in Ancient Greek Philosophy
- Renaissance period and early modernity
- Contemporary hylozoism
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=1.3|Sphera volgare, featuring the Sun, the [[Moon, the winds and the stars as living. Woodcut illustration from an edition of De sphaera mundi, Venice, 1537.]]
Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine according to which all matter is alive or animated, either in itself or as participating in the action of a superior principle, usually the world-soul (anima mundi). The theory holds that matter is unified with life or spiritual activity. The word is a 17th-century term formed from the Greek words ὕλη (hyle: "wood, matter") and ζωή (zoē: "life"), which was coined by the English Platonist philosopher Ralph Cudworth in 1678.