Animistic theory by edward burnett tylor

1. Animistic Theory by Edward
Burnett Tylor
Group 1

2. Edward Burnett Tylor
• English anthropologist
(2 October 1832 – 2 January 1917)
• founder of cultural anthropology
• Primitive Culture (1871)

3. Animism
• Came from the Latin word “Anima” which
mean “Soul”
• Origin of the Religion
• Is the doctrine or theory of the soul
• Coined by the anthropologist E.B. Tylor
• ‘’Animism’’

4. Beliefs
• Anthropomorphism and personification lie at the heart of
animism. Followers endow animals, plants and even
inanimate objects
• Animism focuses on the metaphysical universe, with
specific focus on the concept of the immaterial soul.
• In life, animists seek to appease the spirit world. In death,
practitioners typically believe that a person's soul joins the
spirit world.
• Animistic belief systems hold that the spirit survives
physical death, often passing to an easier world of
abundant game or ever-ripe crops, while in other systems
the spirit remains on earth as a ghost, often malignant (or
combinations of both of these beliefs).
• From the belief in the survival of the dead arose the
practice of offering food, lighting fires, etc, at the grave,
later developing into a kind of ancestor worship.

5. Proponents
•Prof. W. Robertson Smith
•Prof. Frazer