ȯ(r)ˈganəˌsizəm noun
( -s )
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary organic (I) + -ism
: a theory interpreting something as organic in character: as
a. : a theory that disease is always associated with a structural lesion of an organ
b. : a theory holding in contrast to vitalism on the one hand and mechanism on the other that life and living processes are the manifestation of an activity possible only in virtue of the state of autonomous organization of the system rather than because of its individual components — compare holism , objective idealism , philosophy of organism
c. : a conception of society as a superindividual organism constituted of ideas, beliefs, and volitions or as an entity analogous to a biological organism and subject to the same stages of birth, maturity, and death