id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
en-wikipedia-org-4019		Animism - Wikipedia			.html	text/html	8714	1431	55	Sir Edward Tylor had initially wanted to describe the phenomenon as spiritualism, but realised that such would cause confusion with the modern religion of Spiritualism, which was then prevalent across Western nations.[13] He adopted the term animism from the writings of German scientist Georg Ernst Stahl,[14] who had developed the term animismus in 1708 as a biological theory that souls formed the vital principle and that the normal phenomena of life and the abnormal phenomena of disease could be traced to spiritual causes.[15] Many anthropologists ceased using the term animism, deeming it to be too close to early anthropological theory and religious polemic.[19] However, the term had also been claimed by religious groups—namely indigenous communities and nature worshipers—who felt that it aptly described their own beliefs, and who in some cases actively identified as "animists."[33] It was thus readopted by various scholars, who began using the term in a different way,[19] placing the focus on knowing how to behave toward other beings, some of whom aren't human.[17] As religious studies scholar Graham Harvey stated, while the "old animist" definition had been problematic, the term animism was nevertheless "of considerable value as a critical, academic term for a style of religious and cultural relating to the world."[34]	./cache/en-wikipedia-org-4019.html	./txt/en-wikipedia-org-4019.txt