Élan vital
HYPOTHETICAL EXPLANATION FOR EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANISMS
Elan Vital (term); Élan Vital; Élan vital (philosophy); Elan vital (philosophy)
Élan vital () is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in his 1907 book Creative Evolution, in which he addresses the question of self-organisation and spontaneous morphogenesis of things in an increasingly complex manner. Élan vital was translated in the English edition as "vital impetus", but is usually translated by his detractors as "vital force".