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naturalismmore about naturalism

naturalism


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Naturalism  \Nat"u*ral*ism\,  n.  [Cf.  F.  naturalisme.] 
  1.  A  state  of  nature;  conformity  to  nature. 
 
  2.  (Metaph.)  The  doctrine  of  those  who  deny  a  supernatural 
  agency  in  the  miracles  and  revelations  recorded  in  the 
  Bible,  and  in  spiritual  influences;  also  any  system  of 
  philosophy  which  refers  the  phenomena  of  nature  to  a  blind 
  force  or  forces  acting  necessarily  or  according  to  fixed 
  laws,  excluding  origination  or  direction  by  one 
  intelligent  will 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Naturalism  \Nat"u*ral*ism\,  n. 
  1.  The  theory  that  art  or  literature  should  conform  to 
  nature;  realism;  also  the  quality,  rendering,  or 
  expression  of  art  or  literature  executed  according  to  this 
  theory. 
 
  2.  Specif.,  the  principles  and  characteristics  professed  or 
  represented  by  a  19th-century  school  of  realistic  writers, 
  notably  by  Zola  and  Maupassant,  who  aimed  to  give  a 
  literal  transcription  of  reality,  and  laid  special  stress 
  on  the  analytic  study  of  character,  and  on  the  scientific 
  and  experimental  nature  of  their  observation  of  life. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  naturalism 
  n  1:  the  doctrine  that  the  world  can  be  understood  in  scientific 
  terms  without  recourse  to  spiritual  or  supernatural 
  explanations 
  2:  an  artistic  movement  in  19th  century  France;  artists  and 
  writers  strove  for  detailed  realistic  and  factual 
  description  [syn:  {realism}] 




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