Hmm can vitalism be refactored as an aesthetic? As a non-empiricist metaphysics it’s a non-starter in 2018. Like stream of consciousness, but for any process, not just literature. A post-biomorphic aesthetic of organic as opposed to mechanistic systems. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism
The demise of vitalism came by replacing vis vitalis with homeostatic metabolism. If you remove this principle from the organism and reintroduce vis vitalis, you get zombies!