spiritual often approximates very closely to that of
material. Where the soul is regarded as no more than a finer sort of
matter, it will obviously be far from easy to decide whether the gods
are spiritual or material. Even, therefore, if we can say that at the
present day the gods are entirely spiritual, it is clearly possible
to maintain that they have been spiritualized _pari passu_ with the
increasing importance of the animistic view of nature and of the
greater prominence of eschatological beliefs. The animistic origin of
religion is therefore not proven.

_Animism and Mythology_.--But little need be said on the relation of
animism and mythology (_q.v._). While a large part of mythology has
an animistic basis, it is possible to believe, _e.g._ in a sky world,
peopled by corporeal beings, as well as by spirits of the dead; the
latter may even be entirely absent; the mythology of the Australians
relates largely to corporeal, non-spiritual beings; stories of
transformation, deluge and doom myths, or myths of the origin of
death, have not necessarily any animistic basis. At the same time,
with the rise of ideas as to a future life and spiritual beings, this
field of mythology is immensely widened, though it cannot be said
that a rich mythology is necessarily genetically associated with or
combined with belief in many spiritual beings.

_Animism in Philosophy_.--The term "animism" has been applied to many
different philosophical systems. It is used to describe Aristotle's
view of the relation of soul and body held also by the Stoics and
Scholastics. On the other hand monadology (Leibnitz) has also been
termed animistic. The name is most commonly applied to vitalism, a
view mainly associated with G.E. Stahl and revived by F. Bouillier
(1813-1899), which makes life, or life and mind, the directive
principle in evolution and growth, holding that all cannot be traced
back to chemical and mechanical processes, but that there is a
directive force which guides energy without altering its amount.
An entirely different class of ideas, also termed animistic, is the
belief in the world soul, held by Plato, Schelling and others.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Tyler, _Primitive Culture_; Frazer, _Golden Bough_;
_Id_. on Burial Customs in _J.A. I_. xv.; Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_;
G.A. Wilken, _Het Animisme_; Koch on the animism of S. America in
_Internationales Archiv_, xiii., Suppl.; Andrew Lang, _Making of
Religion_; Skeat, _Malay Magic_;