What does vitalism mean?
Vitalism is the doctrine that living things possess an internal vital principle or life force that accounts for their distinctive character and cannot be reduced entirely to physical and chemical processes. It was once especially influential in medicine, where doctors and natural philosophers used it to explain growth, reproduction, disease, and the apparent resistance of living organisms to purely mechanical explanation. During the nineteenth century, experimental physiology and advances in chemistry increasingly undermined medical vitalism, although the underlying question remained important in philosophy of biology. Today, the word is used mainly when discussing the history of science or a broader belief that some nonmaterial force animates nature. It should not be confused with vitality, which denotes life, energy, or vigour. Vitalism is also distinct from animism, since its central claim concerns a vital principle in living beings rather than the worship or personification of natural forces.
nounThe doctrine that living organisms possess an intrinsic vital principle or life force that cannot be fully explained by physical and chemical processes. The term is now used especially for a historically important medical theory and more broadly for opposition to mechanistic explanations of life.
- The doctrine that living organisms are animated or sustained by an intrinsic vital principle or force that cannot be reduced to physical and chemical mechanisms.
- More broadly, a philosophical position that some nonmaterial life force or principle underlies living organisms or natural processes.
"Her lecture examined how vitalism shaped medical practice before experimental physiology became dominant."
"The history of medicine shows how difficult it was for practitioners to abandon vitalism."
"Her philosophical paper argued that vitalism and mechanism need not be treated as simple opposites."
Uncommon; normally used only when comparing distinct vitalist doctrines.
"The historian contrasted several rival vitalisms and their explanations of disease."
For much of early modern medicine, doctors blamed an invisible vital force for everything that laboratory chemistry could not yet explain.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vitalism come from?
Vitalism derives from Latin vitalis, meaning “of or pertaining to life,” from vita, “life.” The term entered English in the seventeenth century to denote a medical theory according to which living bodies were governed by an internal vital principle. It later became a broader philosophical label for positions opposed to mechanistic accounts of living organisms, while vital and vitality developed from the same Latin adjective and vitamin was coined from vita.
Related word forms
How vitalism is actually used
The term is formal and now appears mainly in philosophy, the history of medicine, and discussions of scientific explanation. In reference to medicine it usually denotes an obsolete or historically superseded theory and may carry a critical or dismissive connotation.
Easily confused with vitalism
Vitality means life, energy, or vigour, whereas vitalism is the doctrine that life depends on an intrinsic vital principle.