Animism

Animism
Animism (from Latin anima (soul, life)[1][2]) is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist in humans, animals, plants or other entities.[3] Animism may also attribute souls to natural phenomena, geographic features, and metaphors in mythology. Religions which emphasize animism in this sense include Shinto, Hinduism and pagan faiths such as folk religions, Neopaganism, among countless others. Throughout European history, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Acquinas, among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants and people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism