[From Latin deus: god.]
(metaphysics) The idea, formulated during the Enlightenment of the 1600s and 1700s, that God created the universe but then left it alone to operate on its own principles - principles that human reason and scientific inquiry can discover. According to deism, God is not involved in the day-to-day workings of the universe and there are no miracles. Historically, deism was a kind of way station between the theism of the Middle Ages and the agnosticism or outright atheism of modern times.