What does animalism mean?
Animalism is a noun describing the condition of behaving in a purely animal manner — governed by appetite, instinct, and sensation rather than by reason, morality, or refinement. In this primary sense it is usually pejorative: to accuse someone of animalism is to suggest brutishness, gluttony, lust, or a general surrender to base impulses. A second, more technical sense appears in philosophy, where animalism names the metaphysical thesis that human persons are, at bottom, living human animals — a serious position in debates about personal identity. The word derives from Latin anima ('breath' or 'soul'), the same root that gives us animal and animate, entering English usage in the nineteenth century. It also gained cultural fame through George Orwell's Animal Farm, whose fictional creed of 'Animalism' satirised revolutionary ideology while playing on the word's darker associations. Whether condemning crude appetite or naming an academic doctrine, animalism draws its power from the tension between our rational self-image and our bodily nature.
The condition of being dominated by physical appetites and instincts rather than reason or higher faculties; brutish or sensual behaviour.
"Critics accused the film of indulging in mere animalism, all sensation and no thought."
In this sense the word is almost always pejorative.
The philosophical doctrine that human persons are fundamentally animals — specifically, that each person is identical to a living human organism.
"According to animalism, you did not come into existence when you became conscious; you began as a developing embryo."
This sense is chiefly found in analytic philosophy, particularly discussions of personal identity associated with philosophers such as Eric Olson.
Rarely pluralised; the plural appears mainly when contrasting different doctrines or varieties of animal-like behaviour across texts or thinkers.
"The survey traced the various animalisms proposed by personal-identity theorists over the past century."
George Orwell deliberately echoed the word in 'Animal Farm' — the pigs' creed of 'Animalism' was both a satire of Soviet communism and a pun on humanity's own brutish appetites.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does animalism come from?
Animalism was formed from the noun animal combined with the suffix -ism, which typically denotes doctrines, practices, or characteristic behaviours. Its ultimate root is the Latin anima, meaning breath, air, or soul, which also produced the words animal and animate. The term entered English usage around the early nineteenth century, initially in moral and literary criticism to describe brutish or sensual conduct, and later acquired its distinct philosophical sense through twentieth-century metaphysical debates about personal identity.
How animalism is actually used
Animalism carries a largely negative or pejorative connotation when used of behaviour, implying coarseness, sensuality, or lack of self-control. In philosophical contexts (especially metaphysics), the term is neutral, referring to the view that persons are biological animals. The word is relatively formal and uncommon in everyday speech.
Easily confused with animalism
Animism is the belief that natural objects and phenomena possess souls or spirits, whereas animalism refers to animal-like behaviour or the doctrine that humans are essentially animal.