According to the idea of animism in cultural anthropology, the mankind viewed the phenomena of life and death in an objective manner, created a recognition of 'life' as a concept of ego and consciousness out of such a view, and considered life, deity or spirit dwells in living creatures as well as in natural objects such as mountains, rivers, rocks and trees.
文化人類学のアニミズム論によれば、人類が生と死という現象を客観的に捉え、それを自我や意識わせた観念として「命」という認識を作り出し、生き物や自然の山河や岩や木々にも命や神や霊が宿ると考えた。