a manner or technique of treating subject matter that presents, through volume of detail, a deterministic view of human life and actions.
b.
a deterministic theory of writing in which it is held that a writer should adopt an objective view toward the material written about, be free of preconceived ideas as to form and content, and represent with clinical accuracy and frankness the details of life. Compare realism(def. 4b).
c.
a representation of natural appearances or natural patterns of speech, manner, etc., in a work of fiction.
d.
the depiction of the physical environment, esp. landscape or the rural environment.
2.
(in a work of art) treatment of forms, colors, space, etc., as they appear or might appear in nature. Compare idealism(def. 4), realism(def. 3a).
3.
action arising from or based on natural instincts and desires alone.
4.
Philosophy.
a.
the view of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces, excluding the supernatural or spiritual.
b.
the belief that all phenomena are covered by laws of science and that all teleological explanations are therefore without value.
5.
Theology.
a.
the doctrine that all religious truth is derived from a study of natural processes and not from revelation.
b.
the doctrine that natural religion is sufficient for salvation.
A movement in literature and the arts, and an approach to philosophy. Literary and artistic naturalism aims at accuracy and objectivity and cultivates realistic and even sordid portrayals of people and their environment. Philosophical naturalism, which is often identified with materialism, holds that minds, spirits, and ideas are fundamentally material.
[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion
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.
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.
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