Du"al*ism (?), n. [Cf. F. dualisme.]
State of being dual or twofold; a twofold division; any system which is founded on a double principle, or a twofold distinction
; as: (a) Philos.
A view of man as constituted of two original and independent elements, as matter and spirit
. Theol. (b)
A system which accepts two gods, or two original principles, one good and the other evil
. (c)
The doctrine that all mankind are divided by the arbitrary decree of God, and in his eternal foreknowledge, into two classes, the elect and the reprobate
. (d)
Physiol. The theory that each cerebral hemisphere acts independently of the other.
An inevitable dualism bisects nature, so that each thing is a half, and suggests another thing to make it whole.
Emerson.
© Webster 1913.