dualism Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the doctrine that reality consists of two basic opposing elements, often taken to be mind and matter (or mind and body), or good and evil

WordNet

Du"al*ism noun
Etymology
Cf. F. dualisme.
Definitions
  1. 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