Animism: Comprehending Its Fundamentals

The belief that numerous spiritual beings influence human affairs is called animism and can help or harm human interests. Sir Edward Burnett pioneered and popularized the concept of animism in his work, Primitive Culture, in 1871. Furthermore, major religions worldwide with animistic elements don\’t necessarily believe in animism but may have roots in it. Ultimately, comprehending animism requires a theoretical understanding of various tribal cultures and their ethnographic insights. 

Understanding Animism

Animism involves a consistent worldview of various religious beliefs and practices. For modern scholars, this belief emerged alongside scientific and rational understandings of religion. The age of exploration sparked the idea of animism due to European’s encounters with other diverse cultures. At first, Christian missionaries had unsympathetic and ignorant views of animism in their initial insights. 

However, missionaries in the 19th century developed an interest in the belief as they viewed animism as ancestral to their own creed. Again, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor’s work crystallized this interest by describing the behaviors of exotic religions. Influenced by Charles Darwin’s biology, many scholars suggest animism offers an understanding of early cultural evolution and the “primitive mind.”  

Yet, contemporary thinkers held different views of animism, believing these scholars’ ideas were rooted in a flawed premise. Today, anthropologists find comparisons in every religion and culture as they reflect the evolution of human intelligence and its advanced learning capabilities. Even studies from the mid-20th century revealed complex religious thoughts and ideas were shared by “Stone Age” hunters, whose beliefs defy simplistic characterizations. 

Animism in Prehistoric Cultures

The historical evolution of major religions worldwide suggests that animism was a dominant belief in prehistoric times. In fact, societies without established doctrines preferred open belief systems over strict ones. While monotheistic and polytheistic beliefs likely coexisted, they may not have been mutually exclusive since various creeds or beliefs held universal appeal historically.

This means that educated individuals in the past had complex thoughts and traditions, which can be seen today. While this perspective is evident now, it was rarely acknowledged in scholarly debates over a century ago. Indeed, just one hundred years ago, scholars tended to overlook the complexity of these prehistoric beliefs. However, they understood that the complex evolution of religion revealed various influences.  

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor was determined to find the most basic form of religion by studying numerous cultures without religious concepts. Particularly, Tylor believed religion could be found in all cultures and searched for ways to prove it. At first, he proposed every culture had a pre-religious stage, hypothesizing it existed among various tribes. By defining religion as “the belief in spiritual beings,” he could investigate if individuals or cultures truly lacked these beliefs. Consequently, all cultures having these beliefs would mean all humanity could experience basic spiritual awareness. 

Complex Belief System

In another proposal, Tylor believed that the evolution of cultures didn’t follow a simple path and became more complex over time. Furthermore, he’d show more support for the “development theory” than the “degradation theory,\” which assumed advanced civilizations, including ancient Egypt, created the religions of remote cultures. Championing the development theory allowed Tylor to counter the notion that religions of remote cultures were nothing more than degraded versions of more accepted beliefs. 

Tylor’s studies argued that animism exhibits diversity as various cultures fully embraced it, reinforcing his theory that animism survived within advanced civilizations in muted forms. For example, many practitioners of animism may use expressions or superstitions such as “genius” or “a spirit of disobedience” to show its adaptability and context-dependency.

Distuingishing Animism 

Globally, hunter-gatherer societies embrace animism and its traditions. Similar to theism covering god-based beliefs, animism isn’t one religion but a collection of diverse beliefs. Likewise, individuals who consider themselves, animists, may not be theists. To better understand this belief, it’s important to distinguish it from other related philosophical doctrines: hylozoism, panpsychism, and vitalism. 

3 Similar Spiritual Beliefs

Followers of hylozoism believe that the universe is a living organism and this belief is mostly attributed to Aristotle’s Lyceum director, Strato of Lampsacus. He argues that the motion of the universe occurs due to unconscious, internal mechanisms, which parallels the biological processes creating and sustaining life. However, animists rejected this explanation as they disagree that the universe or all objects within it are living entities. Instead, they attribute interiority or personhood to specific natural things, believing they could experience similar cultural lives and communities as humans.

A panpsychist believes that mentality is ubiquitous and fundamental in the natural world. Basically, they view the mind as the building block of the universe. While panpsychism doesn’t assign human-like cultural or interior life to natural features, animists don’t view the mind as universally fundamental. For example, panpsychism sees all rocks as being special, animists view certain rocks as capable of having interior lives. 

Vitalism would lose favor over time and is now considered an outdated belief that simple mechanics cannot solely explain biological phenomena. Instead, vitalists rely on spiritual forces or substances to answer existential or universal questions. For example, vitalists believe that all living things share a spiritual quality, called the “élan vital,” which they use to seek these spiritual explanations. In contrast, animism doesn’t include souls or special spirits, preferring to assign animacy to non-living entities such as wind and rivers instead. 

Final Thoughts

Considerably, animism may be the most prevailing religious belief in various human cultures. This belief gained popularity once humans migrated from Africa, creating numerous indigenous cultures around the world for centuries. Despite its popularity and vital role in religious development within human civilization, many contemporaries largely overlook this belief system altogether. Nevertheless, animism made a huge contribution to the spiritual heritage of indigenous populations worldwide.

Disclaimer: This article is intended simply to provide information. It does not replace the medical advice of a physician or other medical professional. Please speak with your doctor or therapist if you have any questions or concerns.