spiritual naturalism

noun

A worldview that reveres nature, without belief in the supernatural.

Similar
worldview that reveres nature
OriginFrench naturalisme spiritualiste →
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Meanings

nounspiritual naturalism (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA worldview that reveres nature, without belief in the supernatural.

    The possibility of a “spiritual naturalism” has been conceived by M. Huysmans.

    1891 December, Edward Dowden, “The ‘Interviewer’ Abroad” (magazine article), in John Holmes Agnew and Walter Hilliard Bidwell (editors), The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 836
    4 more examples

    The book embraces a wide range of subjects, ontological, cosmical, theological, spiritual, and social, which are presented in the aspect of a unitary system, the pervading animus of which is a kind of attenuated and semi-spiritual naturalism, which ignores and repudiates any special divinity or sacredness attaching to the teachings of the Bible.

    1861, “Davis, Andrew Jackson” (encyclopedia article), in George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana (editors), The New American Cyclopædia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, D. Appleton and Company, Volume VI, page 286

    The spiritual philosophy pulls them down, and opens again the fair fields of spiritual naturalism to the contemplation of thinkers.

    1869, Epes Sargent, Planchette; Or, The Despair of Science, Roberts Brothers, page 306

    This spiritual version of naturalism is perhaps best formulated in the Laws […] This is a clear statement of spiritual naturalism; and it is combined as […]

    1945, Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume I: The Spell of Plato

    Spiritual Naturalism, being a rejection of supernaturalism, removes the religious image to further penetrate and intensify […]

    2005, Ramun Bjerken, The Archaic Smile: On Spiritual Naturalism, iUniverse, →ISBN, page xiii

    Synonyms: worldview that reveres nature

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA worldview that reveres nature, without belief in the supernatural.

Similar
worldview that reveres nature

Origin

  1. Frenchnaturalisme spiritualiste
  2. Englishspiritual naturalism

A calque of French naturalisme spiritualiste (coined by Joris-Karl Huysmans from naturalisme and spiritualiste).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

spiritual naturalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spiritual%20naturalism

MLA

“spiritual naturalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spiritual%20naturalism. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spiritual naturalism,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spiritual%20naturalism.

Source: spiritual naturalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.