spiritualism

Meaning

Noun

• A doctrine, opposing materialism, that claims transcendency of the divine being, the altogether spiritual character of reality and the value of inwardness of consciousness.
• A belief that the dead communicate with the living, especially through a medium. Used in a broader sense than spiritism/Kardecism.
• The quality or state of being spiritual.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• spiritism, Kardecism

Origin

• spiritual + -ism
• In Allan Kardec's 1857 book The Spirits Book (Le Livre des Esprits in original French), in which a distinction between spiritism and spiritualism is defined.