Definition of "dualism" [du•al•ism]

• The condition of being double; duality. (noun)
• Philosophy The view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities, such as mind and matter. (noun)
• Psychology The view that the mind and body function separately, without interchange. (noun)
• Theology The concept that the world is ruled by the antagonistic forces of good and evil. (noun)
• Theology The concept that humans have two basic natures, the physical and the spiritual. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "How - ever, the subjects in which the term dualism is most often employed are the history of religions and philoso - phy."
• "Second, the term dualism is employed in opposition to monism, to signify the ordinary view that the existing universe contains two radically distinct kinds of being or substance -- matter and spirit, body and mind."
• "With this in mind, he rejects what he refers to as dualism or a gnostic understanding that separates body and spirit and denies the value of the body."