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Webster 1913 Edition


Spiritualism

Spir′it-u-al-ism

,
Noun.
1.
The quality or state of being spiritual.
2.
(Physiol.)
The doctrine, in opposition to the materialists, that all which exists is spirit, or soul – that what is called the external world is either a succession of notions impressed on the mind by the Deity, as maintained by Berkeley, or else the mere educt of the mind itself, as taught by Fichte.
3.
A belief that departed spirits hold intercourse with mortals by means of physical phenomena, as by rappng, or during abnormal mental states, as in trances, or the like, commonly manifested through a person of special susceptibility, called a medium; spiritism; the doctrines and practices of spiritualists.
What is called
spiritualism
should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.
R. H. Hutton.

Definition 2024


Spiritualism

Spiritualism

See also: spiritualism

English

Noun

Spiritualism (uncountable)

  1. A belief that spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living, providing useful knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God.

Related terms

Translations

spiritualism

spiritualism

See also: Spiritualism

English

Noun

spiritualism (countable and uncountable, plural spiritualisms)

  1. A philosophic doctrine, opposing materialism, that claims transcendency of the divine being, the altogether spiritual character of reality and the value of inwardness of consciousness.
    • R. H. Hutton
      What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.
  2. A belief that the dead communicate with the living, especially through a medium. Used in a broader sense than spiritism/Kardecism, in which followers specifically believe in Allan Kardec's Spiritist Codification, a series of books that contain additional moral and other teachings.
  3. The quality or state of being spiritual.

Hyponyms

Translations

Derived terms