Christian Cyclopedia

(from Gk. dynamis, “power”). Philos. system which holds that all phenomena are manifestations of force; distinguished from mechanism.* Examples: 1. The view of Anaximenes* of Miletus (of the Ionian school of philos.) that things grow by condensation and rarefaction, or heat and cold; 2. G. W. v. Leibniz'* explanation of substance; 3. I. Kant's* explanation of matter as forces of attraction and repulsion; 4. Arnold van Gennep's (1873–1957) description of an attitude of the savage mind toward the sacred and hidden; 5. The view of W. Ostwald,* exponent of energetics; 6. The élan vital (vital force) of H. Bergson* and the philos. of organism of A. N. Whitehead.* See also Africa, A. 3.