vitalistisen

Vitalistisen is a Finnish adjective form meaning “vitalistic” or “pertaining to vitalism.” In Finnish, vitalistinen is the base word, and vitalistisen is the genitive singular form used when modifying a noun in contexts such as “vitalistisen liikkeen” (of the vitalist movement) or “vitalistisen filosofian” (of vitalist philosophy). Thus, vitalistisen itself is not a standalone concept but a grammatical form that appears in phrases describing vitalist ideas.

Vitalism, or vitalismi in Finnish, is a philosophical and scientific doctrine that posits the existence of a life force or principle beyond purely physical and chemical explanations of biological processes. In its various strands, vitalism has appeared as philosophical reasoning about life’s fullness and purpose, as well as a biological or medical concept suggesting there is more to living systems than mechanistic interactions. Notable discussions include philosophical vitalism, with thinkers such as Henri Bergson’s elan vital and the broader historical debates about whether life can be fully explained by chemistry and physics or requires an additional principle. Over time, many vitalist positions declined as molecular biology and biochemistry provided mechanistic accounts better aligned with empirical evidence, though the term persists in historical and critical scholarship.

In Finnish usage, vitalistisen commonly appears in academic writing and historical overviews, where it modifies nouns in the genitive or partitive cases, such as “vitalistisen liikkeen vaikutus” or “vitalistisen filosofian näkökulmat.” The word reflects a specific, largely historical discourse and is typically encountered in discussions of intellectual history, philosophy of life, and the history of biology.