The story
From animate + -ism. Originally coined by British anthropologist Robert Marett to refer to "a belief in a generalized, impersonal power over which people have some measure of control".
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
animatism
Today it means: The belief that everything is pervaded by a life force giving each inanimate object a consciousness or personality, but not a soul as in animism. Full definition →