elementalismn.
/ɛlɪˈmɛntəlɪz(ə)m/ 1. A method or theory which divinizes the elemental powers of nature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > (a phenomenon of) nature as > theory of
elementalism1863
1863 Duff in Christian Work July 273 Elementalism, if I may coin a word, the worship chiefly of the Fire, the Air, the Water and the Sun.
1882 Ogilvie's Imperial Dict. (new ed.) Suppl. Elementalism, the theory which identifies the divinities of the ancients with the elemental powers. Gladstone.
2. A system based upon elemental forces or characters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > [noun] > occult principle > system involving
elementalism1921
1921 Glasgow Herald 8 Jan. 4 An incompetent charlatan, performing in public under the guise of ‘sublime elementalism’ his worthless exercises.
1921 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Feb. 106/4 To reduce two women, one the embodiment of inherited fastidiousness, the other touched with intellectual greatness, to a common level of elementalism.
3. The verbal separation into separate concepts or entities of things which cannot be separated empirically or physically, e.g. space and time, mind and body.
ΚΠ
1933 [see elementalistic adj. at Derivatives].
Derivatives
elementaˈlistic adj.
ΚΠ
1933 A. Korzybski Sci. & Sanity i. 24 Meanings, and the meanings of meanings, with their inseparable affective components, give us..the non-elementalistic foundation on which all civilization and culture depends...The psychological mechanism is extremely simple and necessitates a breaking away from the older elementalism. But it is usually very difficult for any given individual to break away from this older elementalism, as it involves the established s.r...the semantic reaction.
1946 S. A. Hayakawa in W. S. Knickerbocker 20th Cent. Eng. i. 50 We have been defining man in non~functional and elementalistic terms.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1863