the word "animism" looks like the words of other belief systems with the suffix "-ism." however, it is not like other belief systems. animism is not organized on purpose. animists did not come up with the word "animism." animists did not apply the word to themselves. instead, animism is an idea of european anthropologists. the first anthropologist who described animism was edward b. taylor. taylor was trying to describe what was similar among many groups all over the world. the word "animism" is very new: it was first used in 1832. in contrast, the ideas described by "animism" are very old. the internet encyclopedia of philosophy claims that animism "has been the dominant religious tradition across all human societies since our ancestors first left africa."