ANIMISM • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Animism

... religion there are present characteristics which go back to old manners of thought, and these manners of thought are not peculiar to the Romans but are found in many primitive peoples of our own day. The greatest contribution which anthropology has made to the study of early Roman religion is "animism." ...

— The Religion of Numa - And Other Essays on the Religion of Ancient Rome • Jesse Benedict Carter

... regression to the savage is harmless, but when a newspaper states that "Germany is as militaristic as ever", on the ground that some insolent Prussian lieutenant says that German armies will occupy Paris within five years, we have an example of animism which in a society farther removed from savagery than ours might be deemed a high crime and misdemeanor. Chemists and physicians have given up talking of spirits, but in discussing social and economic questions we are still victimized by the primitive ...

— The Mind in the Making - The Relation of Intelligence to Social Reform • James Harvey Robinson