noun
- The philosophical doctrine that matter is alive or that all material things possess life or a vital principle.
Usage: philosophy; formal
Examples
- Ancient Greek philosophers sometimes embraced hylozoism, believing that even stones and metals contained a form of life.
- Hylozoism challenges the modern scientific distinction between living and non-living matter.
- Some early naturalists explored hylozoism as an alternative to purely mechanical explanations of nature.
- The concept of hylozoism fell out of favor with the rise of mechanistic physics in the 17th century.