Animism.
Animism (from Latin anima (soul, life)[1][2]) is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment,[3] a proposition also known as hylozoism in philosophy. Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names or metaphors in mythology. Religions which emphasize animism are mostly ethnic religions or folk religions, such as the various forms of Shamanism, Shinto, or certain currents of Hinduism.
Throughout European history, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants and people.











