Relating to or characteristic of the rejection of vitalism in favor of mechanistic or chemical explanations of life.
From 'antivitalist' with the adjective suffix '-ic'. This academic term developed alongside 20th-century biology and philosophy of science.
Modern biology is fundamentally antivitalistic—it explains life through DNA, proteins, and chemical reactions rather than mystical vital forces, which is why we now understand genetics at a molecular level.
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