vitalist
- noun
- /ˈvaɪtəlɪst/
- Archaic
- A vitalist believes that living beings possess a unique life force that distinguishes them from non-living matter.
Examples
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All the great Eastern systems of traditional medicine are based on highly evolved vitalist philosophies that interweave mind, body, and world.
Academic text (2001) -
So do you think the vitalists have a point that they're more eager and able to notice the magic of life?
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Perhaps the reason is that people in our culture and others speak of health and illness in a vitalist way; we talk about mind and body with an intuitive sense of their inseparability; we experience how our predicament and our health are entangled.
Academic text (2001) -
Both biomedical and vitalist accounts can be valid and valuable; however, the vitalist's story is about the body-mind experienced from the inside, and biomedicine's is about the body as an object.
Academic text (2001) -
It seems that the gulf between mainstream medicine and the vitalist therapies—like the gap between the participatory worldview and science itself—is narrowing.
Academic text (2001) -
Many vitalists argue that health is influenced not just by physical factors, but also by one's emotional and mental state.
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In discussions about the philosophy of biology, a vitalist might emphasize the importance of a life force in understanding living organisms.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Vitalist comes from vital meaning 'life' and the ending -ist meaning 'a person who believes or practices'. So a vitalist is someone who believes living things have a special 'life force' that makes them different from non-living things.