naturalism

n. [ Cf. F. naturalisme. ] 1. A state of nature; conformity to nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The doctrine of those who deny a supernatural agency in the miracles and revelations recorded in the Bible, and in spiritual influences; also, any system of philosophy which refers the phenomena of nature to a blind force or forces acting necessarily or according to fixed laws, excluding origination or direction by one intelligent will. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The theory that art or literature should conform to nature; realism; also, the quality, rendering, or expression of art or literature executed according to this theory. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. Specifically: The principles and characteristics professed or represented by a 19th-century school of realistic writers, notably by Zola and Maupassant, who aimed to give a literal transcription of reality, and laid special stress on the analytic study of character, and on the scientific and experimental nature of their observation of life. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]