Definition of "naturalism" []

• Factual or realistic representation, especially: (noun)
• The practice of describing precisely the actual circumstances of human life in literature. (noun)
• The practice of reproducing subjects as precisely as possible in the visual arts. (noun)
• A movement or school advocating such precise representation. (noun)
• The principles and methods of such a movement or of its adherents. (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.

• "With the help of a couple of fairly obvious premises, epistemological naturalism also implies naturalism1, and I'll use ˜naturalism™ to refer to the disjunction of the three versions of naturalism sketched."
• "The term naturalism by no means fits James Branch Cabell, who has laid the scene of much of his invention in medieval Europe and who at many points seems incorrigibly romantic; and yet a temper so ironical and so unconventional sets him widely apart from the rococo romancers of the years during which he commenced to write."
• "Now, with this selfish individualism which we call naturalism we shall have much to do, for it plays an increasing rôle in the modern world; it is the neo-paganism which we may see spreading about us."