Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine according to which all matter is alive or animated, either in itself or as participating in the action of a superior principle, usually the world-soul (anima mundi). The theory holds that matter is unified with life or spiritual activity. The word is a 17th-century term formed from the Greek words ὕλη (hyle: "wood, matter") and ζωή (zoē: "life"), which was coined by the English Platonist philosopher Ralph Cudworth in 1678.
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Hylozoism in the context of Clinamen
Clinamen (/klaɪˈneɪmən/; plural clinamina, derived from clinare, to incline) is the unpredictable swerve of atoms in the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus. This swerving, according to Lucretius, provides the "free will which living things throughout the world have". Lucretius never gives the primary cause of the deflections.
According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs "at no fixed place or time":
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