Definition

1. Noun:
   • Preoccupation with satisfaction of physical drives and appetites: A focus on or devotion to physical desires, instincts, and sensual pleasures, often to the exclusion of intellectual or spiritual concerns.
   • The doctrine that human beings are purely animal in nature and lacking a spiritual nature: A philosophical or theoretical position asserting that humans are essentially physical, biological creatures without a transcendent soul or spiritual essence.

Examples

• Noun:
  • His life of pure animalism, concerned only with food, drink, and pleasure, left him feeling empty.
  • The novel explores the theme of animalism, depicting characters driven solely by their base instincts.
  • The philosopher's animalism rejected the concept of an immortal soul, arguing consciousness is a product of the brain.

Advanced Usage

• Philosophical Context: In academic discourse, "animalism" is a specific position in the philosophy of personal identity, arguing that a human person is identical to a human animal (organism).
  • Her thesis defended animalism against rival psychological continuity theories of identity.
• As a Descriptive Term: Can be used critically to describe behavior perceived as brutish or uncivilized.
  • The critic decried the animalism of the violent spectacle.

Variants and Related Words

• Animalistic (adj): Characteristic of an animal; concerning physical appetites and instincts.
  • His reaction was purely animalistic, driven by fear and survival.
• Animal (n): A living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system.

Synonyms

• Sensualism: Excessive devotion to sensual pleasures.
• Materialism: (In one sense) A tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
• Brutishness: The quality of resembling a brute; coarse, savage, or stupid behavior.

Related Phrases

• "To succumb to animalism": To give in completely to one's base physical instincts.
  • In the harsh conditions of survival, they feared they would succumb to animalism.

Noun

1. preoccupation with satisfaction of physical drives and appetites
2. the doctrine that human beings are purely animal in nature and lacking a spiritual nature