élan vital

[ French ey-lahn vee-tal ]

noun

1. (especially in Bergsonian philosophy) the creative force within an organism that is responsible for growth, change, and necessary or desirable adaptations.

élan vital

/ elɑ̃ vital /

noun

1. a creative principle held by Henri Bergson to be present in all organisms and responsible for evolution Compare Bergsonism

Word History and Origins

Origin of élan vital¹

1905–10; < French: literally, vital ardor

Word History and Origins

Origin of élan vital¹

literally: vital impetus

Example Sentences

It’s hard to determine whether this lack of Iowan élan vital is because Trump is the front-runner or if Trump is the front-runner because of the lack of élan vital.

From Slate

For example, philosopher Daniel Dennett, commenting on Conway’s invention in the Times, points out that Life’s “higher-order patterns” emerge from processes that are “completely unmysterious and explicable.... No psionic fields, no morphic resonances, no élan vital, no dualism.”

From Scientific American

No psionic fields, no morphic resonances, no élan vital, no dualism.

From New York Times

You can open this novel anywhere and find lines like: “He is so disgusting it makes you wonder about his poo”; “he considered the raccoon to be the least susceptible of all animals to moral instruction”; “Feeding off her elan vital like a yeast infection”; “in the space of a few months we got the ‘wheel,’ eggs and the Awkward Silence.”

From New York Times

Later, Henri Bergson’s idea of élan vital — described by the French philosopher as “the explosive internal force that life carries within itself” — fueled her work.

From Los Angeles Times