Definition of: vitalism

(vīt′l·iz′əm) noun
1. The doctrine that life had its origin and support in some principle that is neither material nor organic.
2. Philos. A movement represented by Henri Bergson, which upholds the principles of freedom and self–determination and the creative power of the human consciousness. It places intuition above intellect, and considers the universe as living and self–evolving without predestined development or end. Compare BERGSONISM, ÉLAN VITAL.
3. Biol. The theory that organic growth is due to forces that operate only in living organisms and differ in kind from the chemical and physical forces at work in the inorganic world: opposed to mechanism.
—vi′tal·ist noun
—vi′tal·is′tic adjective