spiritualism

Etymology

spiritual + -ism In Allan Kardec's 1857 book The Spirits Book (Le Livre des Esprits in original French), in which a distinction between spiritism and spiritualism is defined.

noun

1. (philosophy) A doctrine, opposing materialism, that claims transcendency of the divine being, the altogether spiritual character of reality and the value of inwardness of consciousness.
   What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism. 1880, R. H. Hutton, “Preface”, in Theological essays
2. A belief that the dead communicate with the living, especially through a medium. Used in a broader sense than spiritism/Kardecism.
   I wish it were possible to impress this truth upon people who rush into spiritualism from curiosity, or who try "table rapping" or some similar phenomenon "for fun". 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 229
3. The quality or state of being spiritual.