Anthropomorphism | Define Anthropomorphism at Dictionary.com anthropomorphism [an-thruh-puh-mawr-fiz-uh m] /ˌæn θrə pəˈmɔr fɪz əm/ Spell an anthropomorphic conception or representation, as of a deity. Origin of anthropomorphism Examples from the Web for anthropomorphism Expand Anima Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge Its anthropomorphism is only, to unobservant minds, less apparent. Flowers of Freethought George W. Foote Certainly, this is something more than what the naturalists have called "anthropomorphism." Old Farm Fairies: Henry Christopher McCook The anthropomorphism of the Jewish Scriptures has already been referred to in Vol. British Dictionary definitions for anthropomorphism Expand the attribution of human form or behaviour to a deity, animal, etc Derived Forms Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for anthropomorphism Expand n. 1753, "attributing of human qualities to a deity;" see anthropomorphic + -ism . Of other non-human things, from 1858. Related: Anthropomorphist (1610s). Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper anthropomorphism - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com Random Word anthropomorphism The idea behind anthropomorphism is that of attributing human characteristics to nonhumans — gods, animals, or inanimate objects. If you believe that your cat wants to celebrate his birthday, you are participating in anthropomorphism. The Greek words for "human" and "form" created the word anthropomorphism, originally used to give human qualities to a deity. The Greeks and Romans used the idea in stories about their gods, giving them human traits to balance their powers (and make better stories).

Even today, many people picture the god they worship as a human form. Whether it's an old man with a beard, mother earth, or a bearded lady, that's anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism: God relates to us in human terms. | CARM Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry Anthropomorphism: God relates to us in human terms. by Matt Slick Anthropomorphism comes from two Greek words: anthropos (man) and morphe (form). Therefore, an anthropomorphism is when God appears to us or manifests Himself to us in human form or even attributes to Himself human characteristics. We see this all over the Bible -- and rightly so. After all, we cannot ascend to where God is, but He can descend to where we are. Following are a few verses from the Bible that ascribe to God human actions, attributes, and emotions. Remember, God works with us in our time frame. He has endured not only eternity, but also human history as He moves through it and through and with people to bring about His sovereign will and purpose. Should we then assume that God would not relate to us in terms familiar to our own actions?

And should we not also assume that in so doing God will present aspects of Himself to us that would be paradoxical? Take for example the fact that God is all powerful (Jer. 32:17,27 ), yet He rests (Gen. 2:2). We see that God is in all places (Psalm 139:7-12), yet He asks Adam, "Where are you?" (Gen. 3:9). We see that God knows all things (1 John 3:20). Yet, we see that God says, "Now I know that you fear God..." (Gen. 22:12). If, as the Open Theist wants to assert that God does not know all future events because He says, for example, to Abraham, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me,” (Gen. 22:12) then can we also not assert that since God asks "Adam, where are you?" that God is not in all places since if God was in all places He would know exactly where Adam was?

Or if God rests that does it mean that God is not all powerful? Of course not. Open Theism simply reduces the attribute of God's omniscience by exalting the condition of man's freedom. Whenever man is exalted, God must be lessened. This is the fundamental problem in Open Theism: it raises man's sovereignty so much, that God's qualities and attributes must be lessened; namely, God is not all knowing. Following are various verses that demonstrate God's human-like manifestation to us in actions, emotions, and physique. Thus we can see that such condescension on God's part to us will naturally result in God saying things that will require a deeper examination: Human actions - changed mind, relented, remembered, rested. Exodus 32:14, "So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people." 2 Sam. 24:16, "When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” Gen.

9:16, “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Gen. 2:2, "And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." Human emotions - sorrow, jealousy, pity, regret. Gen. 6:6, "And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." Exodus 20:5, "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." Judges 2:18, "...for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them." 1 Sam. 15:35, "And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death; for Samuel grieved over Saul.

And the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel." Human physique - hands, face, mouth, eyes, arm. Exodus 7:5, "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” Num.

6:24, "The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you." Psalm 33:6, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host." Psalm 34:15, "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." Psalm 89:10, "Thou Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain; Thou didst scatter Thine enemies with Thy mighty arm." Other - Wings Psalm 57:1, "Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in Thee; and in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge, until destruction passes by." anthropomorphism | religion | Britannica.com Anthropomorphism agnosticism Anthropomorphism, the interpretation of nonhuman things or events in terms of human characteristics, as when one senses malice in a computer or hears human voices in the wind. Derived from the Greek anthropos (“human”) and morphe (“form”), the term was first used to refer to the attribution of human physical or mental features to deities.

By the mid-19th century, however, it had acquired the second, broader meaning of a phenomenon occurring not only in religion but in all areas of human thought and action, including daily life, the arts, and even sciences. Anthropomorphism may occur consciously or unconsciously. Most scholars since the time of the English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626) have agreed that the tendency to anthropomorphize hinders the understanding of the world, but it is deep-seated and persistent. Apollo Belvedere, restored Roman copy of the Greek original attributed to Leochares, 4th century … Alinari/Art Resource, New York People in all cultures have attributed human characteristics to deities, often including jealousy, pride, and love. Even deities with an animal form, or with no physical form at all, are thought to understand prayer and other symbolic communication. The earliest known commentator on anthropomorphism, the Greek poet and religious thinker Xenophanes (c. 560–c. 478 bce), criticized the tendency to conceive of the gods in human terms, and later theologians have sought to reduce anthropomorphism in religion.

Most contemporary theologians, however, concede that anthropomorphism cannot be eliminated without eliminating religion itself, because objects of religious devotion must have features to which humans can relate. For example, language, widely considered a human characteristic, must also be present in deities if humans are to pray to them. Nonreligious anthropomorphism also appears worldwide. People throughout history have reported seeing human features in landforms, clouds, and trees. Artists everywhere have depicted natural phenomena such as the Sun and Moon as having faces and gender. In literature and graphic art, such depiction often is called personification , especially when the subject is an abstraction, such as Death or Liberty. Anthropomorphism in science is widely criticized but not uncommon. For example, the discoverers of the pulsar first mistook its regular radio signals for messages from space, and Charles Darwin (1809–82), the English naturalist who devised the theory of evolution, described Nature as constantly seeking to improve her creatures. Similar Topics acosmism Traditional explanations of why people anthropomorphize may be divided into two sorts.

One view, held by the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–76) among others, is that it is done for an intellectual reason: in order to explain an unfamiliar and mysterious world by using the model that humans know best, namely themselves. This account has merit, but it fails to explain why humans anthropomorphize familiar objects, such as pets and household utensils, or why humans spontaneously see faces in random patterns. The second explanation, given by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and others, is that people anthropomorphize for an emotional reason: to make a hostile or indifferent world seem more familiar and therefore less threatening. This also has merit, but it fails to explain why people anthropomorphize in ways that frighten them, as when they hear a door slammed by the wind and think it is an intruder. A third and more general explanation is that anthropomorphism results from the uncertainty of perception and from the practical need to discern humans, human messages, and human traces in a chronically ambiguous world. Because every sensation may have any of various causes, perception (and with it cognition) is an interpretation and thus a choice among possibilities.

As the historian and psychologist of art Ernst Gombrich (1909–2001) put it, perception is betting. Those bets that potentially yield the most important information are the most valuable, and the most important information usually concerns other humans. Thus, humans are predisposed to perceive shapes, sounds, and other things and events in terms of human form or action, both in unconscious thought and in the conscious thought to which it gives rise. Britannica Stories Methane Surge Worries Scientists Abstraction and pattern recognition, including analogy and metaphor , are fundamental to much of human thought. They enable humans to perceive (among other things) elements of human form or behaviour even where humans do not see the whole, as when they see the image of the “man in the Moon.” What humans see is also shaped by context , including culture , so that, for example, people in some parts of the world see a “woman in the Moon” instead. Nobel Prize When an interpretation of something as human or humanlike is replaced by an interpretation of it as nonhuman, the earlier interpretation can be understood as anthropomorphism.

For example, humans may first see a threatening figure in an alley but later realize that the “figure” is a garbage can. Under any of the three explanations discussed above, anthropomorphism can be described as a category of interpretations retrospectively seen as mistaken. Anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism General Information Anthropomorphism (Greek anthropos,"human being"; morphe,"shape") is the attribution of human form or qualities to that which is not human. In the history of religion, anthropomorphism refers to the depiction of God in a human image, with human bodily form and emotions, such as jealousy, wrath, or love. Whereas mythology is exclusively concerned with anthropomorphic gods, other religious thought holds that it is inappropriate to regard an omnipotent, omnipresent God as human. In order to speak of God, however, metaphorical language must be employed. In philosophy and theology, seemingly anthropomorphic concepts and language are used because it is impossible to think of God without attributing to him some human traits. In the Bible, for example, God is endowed with physical characteristics and human emotions, but at the same time he is understood to be transcendent.

In art and literature, anthropomorphism is the depiction of natural objects, such as animals or plants, as talking, reasoning, sentient, humanlike beings. The earliest critique of anthropomorphism in the West was made by Xenophanes, a Greek philosopher of the 5th century BC. Xenophanes observed that whereas the Ethiopians represented the gods as dark-skinned, the northerners in Thrace depicted the gods with red hair and blue eyes. He concluded that anthropomorphic representations of the gods invariably reveal more about the human beings who make them than they reveal about the divine. The Greek philosopher Plato likewise objected to a human representation of the gods; in the dialogue The Republic, he particularly opposed the attribution of human failings to divine beings. Both Xenophanes and Plato wished to purify religion by eliminating elements that they considered primitive and crude. Text Font Face E-mail Nineteenth-century German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel held that Greek anthropomorphic religion represented an improvement over the worship of gods in the shape of animals, a practice called theriomorphism (Greek therion,"animal"; morphe,"shape").

Hegel also maintained that Christianity brought the notion of anthropomorphism to maturity by insisting not only that God assumed a human form, but also that Jesus Christ was both a fully human person as well as fully divine. Because Christianity incorporates humanity into the very nature of divinity, it has been accused of anthropomorphism by both Jewish and Islamic thinkers. Anthropomorphism Advanced Information The term (not found in the Bible, derived from Greek anthropos, man, and morphe, form) designates the view which conceives of God as having human form (Exod. 15:3; Num. 12:8) with feet (Gen. 3:8; Exod. 24:10), hands (Exod. 24:11; Josh. 4:24), mouth (Num. 12:8; Jer. 7:13), and heart (Hos. 11:8), but in a wider sense the term also includes human attributes and emotions (Gen. 2:2; 6:6; Exod. 20:5; Hos. 11:8).

This tendency toward anthropomorphism, common to all religions, found such full expression in Greek polytheism that the common man thought of the gods as mortal men. Xenophanes (ca. 570-480 B.C.) reacted strongly, accusing man of making the gods in his own image. Later developments in Greek thought considered men as mortal gods (an early form of humanism) or viewed God in the metaphysical sense of pure, absolute Being. The transcendentalism of the latter influenced the hellenistic Jews of Egypt so that the translators of the Greek OT, the LXX, made during the third and second centuries B.C., felt compelled to alter some of the anthropomorphisms. e.g., where the Hebrew reads "they saw the God of Israel" (Exod. 24:10) the LXX has "they saw the place where the God of Israel stood"; and for "I will speak with him mouth to mouth" (Num.

12:8) the LXX translates "I will speak to him mouth to mouth apparently." However, the OT, if read with empathy and understanding, reveals a spiritual development which is a corrective for either a crude, literalistic view of anthropomorphism or the equally false abhorrence of any anthropomorphic expressions. The "image of God" created in man (Gen. 1:27) was in the realm of personality, of spirit, not of human form. Because the Israelites "saw no form" (Deut. 4:12) at Sinai, they were prohibited images in any form; male or female, beast, bird, creeping thing, or fish (Deut. 4:15-19). The NT declaration of Jesus, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), is anticipated by Job 9:32; Ps. 50:21; and Hos. 11:9.

The anthropomorphism of the Israelites was an attempt to express the nonrational aspects of religious experience (the mysterium tremendum, "aweful majesty," discussed by Rudolf Otto) in terms of the rational, and the early expressions of it were not as "crude" as so-called enlightened man would have one think. The human characteristics of Israel's God were always exalted, while the gods of their Near Eastern neighbors shared the vices of men. Whereas the representation of God in Israel never went beyond anthropomorphism, the gods of the other religions assumed forms of animals, trees, stars, or even a mixture of elements. Anthropomorphic concepts were "absolutely necessary if the God of Israel was to remain a God of the individual Israelite as well as of the people as a whole.... For the average worshipper...it is very essential that his god be a divinity who can sympathize with his human feelings and emotions, a being whom he can love and fear alternately, and to whom he can transfer the holiest emotions connected with memories of father and mother and friend" (W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity, 2nd ed., p. 202).

It is precisely in the area of the personal that theism, as expressed in Christianity, must ever think in anthropomorphic terms. To regard God solely as Absolute Being or the Great Unknown is to refer to him or it, but to think of God as literally personal, one with whom we can fellowship, is to say Thou. Some object to this view, to explain how the creatures of an impersonal force became personal human beings conscious of their personality. "To say that God is completely different from us is as absurd as to say that he is completely like us" (D. E. Trueblood, Philosophy of Religion, p. 270). Paradoxical as it may seem, there is a mediating position which finds the answer in the incarnation of Jesus the Christ, who said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Finite man will ever cling to the anthropomorphism of the incarnation and the concept of God as Father (Matt. 7:11), but at the same time he will realize the impossibility of absolute, complete comprehension of God, for "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord" (Isa. 55:8).

D M Beegle Catholic Information (anthropos, man, and morphe, form). A term used in its widest sense to signify the tendency of man to conceive the activities of the external world as the counterpart of his own. A philosophic system which borrows its method from this tendency is termed Philosophic Anthropomorphism. The word, however, has been more generally employed to designate the play of that impulse in religious thought. In this sense, Anthropomorphism is the ascription to the Supreme Being of the form, organs, operations, and general characteristics of human nature. This tendency is strongly manifested in primitive heathen religions, in all forms of polytheism, especially in the classic paganism of Greece and Rome. The charge of Anthropomorphism was urged against the Greeks by their own philosopher, Xenophanes of Colophon. The first Christian apologists upbraided the pagans for having represented God, who is spiritual, as a mere magnified man, subject to human vices and passions. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, abounds in anthropomorphic expressions. Almost all the activities of organic life are ascribed to the Almighty.

He speaks, breathes, sees, hears; He walks in the garden; He sits in the heavens, and the earth is His footstool. It must, however, be noticed that in the Bible locutions of this kind ascribe human characteristics to God only in a vague, indefinite way. He is never positively declared to have a body or a nature the same as man's; and human defects and vices are never even figuratively attributed to Him. The metaphorical, symbolical character of this language is usually obvious. The all-seeing Eye signifies God's omniscience; the everlasting Arms His omnipotence; His Sword the chastisement of sinners; when He is said to have repented of having made man, we have an extremely forcible expression conveying His abhorrence of sin. The justification of this language is found in the fact that truth can be conveyed to men only through the medium of human ideas and thoughts, and is to be expressed only in language suited to their comprehension. The limitations of our conceptual capacity oblige us to represent God to ourselves in ideas that have been originally drawn from our knowledge of self and the objective world.

The Scriptures themselves amply warn us against the mistake of interpreting their figurative language in too literal a sense. They teach that God is spiritual, omniscient, invisible, omnipresent, ineffable. Insistence upon the literal interpretation of the metaphorical led to the error of the Anthropomorphites. Throughout the writings of the Fathers the spirituality of the Divine Nature, as well as the inadequacy of human thought to comprehend the greatness, goodness, and infinite perfection of God, is continually emphasized. At the same time, Catholic philosophy and theology set forth the idea of God by means of concepts derived chiefly from the knowledge of our own faculties, and our mental and moral characteristics. We reach our philosophic knowledge of God by inference from the nature of various forms of existence, our own included, that we perceive in the Universe. All created excellence, however, falls infinitely short of the Divine perfections, consequently our idea of God can never truly represent Him as He is, and, because He is infinite while our minds are finite, the resemblance between our thought and its infinite object must always be faint.

Clearly, however, if we would do all that is in our power to make our idea, not perfect, but as worthy as it may be, we must form it by means of our conceptions of what is highest and best in the scale of existence that we know. Hence, as mind and personality are the noblest forms of reality, we think most worthily of God when we conceive Him under the attributes of mind, will, intelligence, personality. At the same time, when the theologian or philosopher employs these and similar terms with reference to God, he understands them to be predicated not in exactly the same sense that they bear when applied to man, but in a sense controlled and qualified by the principles laid down in the doctrine of analogy. A few decades ago thinkers and writers of the Spencerian and other kindred schools seldom touched upon the doctrine of a personal God without designating it Anthropomorphism, and thereby, in their judgment, excluding it definitively from the world of philosophic thought. Though on the wane, the fashion has not yet entirely disappeared.

The charge of Anthropomorphism can be urged against our way of thinking and speaking of God by those only who, despite the protestations of theologians and philosophers, persist in assuming that terms are used univocally of God and of creatures. When arguments are offered to sustain the imputation, they usually exhibit an incorrect view regarding the essential element of personality. The gist of the proof is that the Infinite is unlimited, while personality essentially involves limitation; therefore, to speak of an Infinite Person is to fall into an absurdity. What is truly essential in the concept of personality is, first, individual existence as opposed to indefiniteness and to identity with other beings; and next, possession, or intelligent control of self. To say that God is personal is to say that He is distinct from the Universe, and that He possesses Himself and His infinite activity, undetermined by any necessity from within or from without. This conception is perfectly compatible with that of infinity. When the agnostic would forbid us to think of God as personal, and would have us speak of Him as energy, force, etc., he merely substitutes lower and more imperfect conceptions for a higher one, without escaping from what he terms Anthropomorphism, since these concepts too are derived from experience.

Besides, he offers violence to human nature when, as sometimes happens, he asks us to entertain for an impersonal Being, conceived under the mechanical types of force or energy, sentiments of reverence, obedience, and trust. These sentiments come into play only in the world of persons, and cannot be exercised towards a Being to whom we deny the attributes of personality. Anthropomorphites (Audians) A sect of Christians that arose in the fourth century in Syria and extended into Scythia, sometimes called Audians, from their founder, Audius. Taking the text of Genesis, i, 27, literally, Audius held that God has a human form. The error was so gross, and, to use St. Jerome's expression (Epist. vi, Ad Pammachium), so absolutely senseless, that it showed no vitality. Towards the end of the century it appeared among some bodies of African Christians. The Fathers who wrote against it dismiss it almost contemptuously. In the time of Cyril of Alexandria, there were some anthropomorphites among the Egyptian monks. He composed a short refutation of their error, which he attributed to extreme ignorance. (Adv. Anthrop.

in P.G., LXXVI.) Concerning the charges of anthropomorphism preferred against Melito, Tertullian, Origen, and Lactantius, see the respective articles. The error was revived in northern Italy during the tenth century, but was effectually suppressed by the bishops, notably by the learned Ratherius, Bishop of Verona. Publication information Written by James J. Fox. Transcribed by Bob Elder. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I. Published 1907. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York Bibliography ST. THOMAS, C. Gent., I, x; III, xxxviii, xxxix; Summa Theol., QQ. ii, iv, xiii; WILHELM AND SCANNELL, Manual of Catholic Theology (London, 1890), I, Bk. II, Pt. 1; SHANAHAN, John Fiske's Idea of God in Cath. Univ.

Bull., III; MARTINEAU, A Study of Religion (New York, 1888), I, Bk. II, i; FLINT, Theism (New York, 1903), Lect. III; THEODORET, Hist. Eccl., IV, ix; VIGOUROUX, in Dict. de la Bible, s. v.; ST. AUGUSTINE, De divers. quaest., Ad Simplicianum, Q. vii;De civ. Dei, I, Q. ii. The individual articles presented here were generally first published in the early 1980s. This subject presentation was first placed on the Internet in May 1997. This page - - Why Do We Anthropomorphize? | Psych Central News Home » News » Why Do We Anthropomorphize? Why Do We Anthropomorphize? By Rick Nauert PhD ~ 1 min read Giving human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects or natural phenomena is a human trait called “to anthropomorphize.” Sadly, as in the tragic Sea World attack the proclivity is forgotten as we wonder why the animal behaved as an animal.

Obviously, the tendency to anthropomorphize is a source of error. In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, psychological scientists Adam Waytz from Harvard University and Nicholas Epley and John T. Cacioppo from the University of Chicago examine the psychology of anthropomorphism. The term anthropomorphism was coined by the Greek philosopher Xenophanes when describing the similarity between religious believers and their gods — that is, Greek gods were depicted having light skin and blue eyes while African gods had dark skin and brown eyes. Neuroscience research has shown that similar brain regions are involved when we think about the behavior of both humans and of nonhuman entities, suggesting that anthropomorphism may be using similar processes as those used for thinking about other people. Anthropomorphism carries many important implications. For example, thinking of a nonhuman entity in human ways renders it worthy of moral care and consideration. In addition, anthropomorphized entities become responsible for their own actions — that is, they become deserving of punishment and reward. Although we like to anthropomorphize, we do not assign human qualities to each and every single object we encounter. What accounts for this selectivity? One factor is similarity.

An entity is more likely to be anthropomorphized if it appears to have many traits similar to those of humans (for example, through humanlike movements or physical features such as a face). Various motivations may also influence anthropomorphism. For example, lacking social connections with other people might motivate lonely individuals to seek out connections from nonhuman items. Anthropomorphism helps us to simplify and make more sense of complicated entities. The authors observe that, according to the World Meteorological Organization, “the naming of hurricanes and storms — a practice that originated with the names of saints, sailors’ girlfriends, and disliked political figures — simplifies and facilitates effective communication to enhance public preparedness, media reporting, and the efficient exchange of information.” Anthropomorphism in reverse is known as dehumanization — when humans are represented as nonhuman objects or animals. There are numerous historical examples of dehumanization including the Nazis’ persecution of Jews during the Holocaust and torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These examples also suggest that those engaging in dehumanization are usually part of a cohesive group acting against outsiders — that is, individuals who feel socially connected may have an increased tendency toward dehumanization.

The authors note, “Social connection may have benefits for a person’s own health and well-being but may have unfortunate consequences for intergroup relations by enabling dehumanization.” The authors conclude that few of us “have difficulty identifying other humans in a biological sense, but it is much more complicated to identify them in a psychological sense.” Anthropomorphism | Psychology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia File:Down the Rabbit Hole.png Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Subjects for anthropomorphism commonly include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse, forces of nature such as winds or the sun, components in games , unseen or unknown sources of chance, etc. Almost anything can be subject to anthropomorphism. The term derives from a combination of the Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos), "human" and μορφή (morphē), "shape" or "form". Humans seem to have an innate capacity to project human characteristics in this way. Evidence from art and artifacts suggests it is a long-held propensity that can be dated back to earliest times.

It is strongly associated with the art of storytelling where it also appears to have ancient roots. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behaviour. The use of such literature to draw moral conclusions can be highly complex. Within these terms, humans have more recently been identified as having an equivalent opposite propensity to deny common traits with other species—most particularly apes—as part of a feeling that humans are unique and special. This tendency has been referred to as Anthropodenial by primatologist Frans de Waal . Contents Edit In the scientific community, using anthropomorphic language that suggests animals have intentions and emotions has been deprecated as indicating a lack of objectivity . Biologists have avoided the assumption that animals share any of the same mental, social, and emotional capacities of humans, relying instead on the strictly observable evidence. [1] Animals should be considered, as Ivan Pavlov wrote in 1927 , "without any need to resort to fantastic speculations as to the existence of any possible subjective states".

[2] More recently, The Oxford companion to animal behaviour (1987) advises "one is well advised to study the behaviour rather than attempting to get at any underlying emotion". [3] Scientific method involves observation , definition , and measurement of the subject of inquiry; empathy is not generally seen as a useful tool. While it is not unknown for scientists to lapse into anthropomorphism to make the objects of their study more humanly comprehensible or memorable, they often do it with an apology . [4] [5] Despite the impact of Charles Darwin 's ideas in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals ( Konrad Lorenz in 1965 called him a " patron saint " of ethology ) [6] ethology has generally focused on behaviour , not on emotion in animals . [6] Though in other ways Darwin was and is the epitome of science, his acceptance of anecdote and naive anthropomorphism stands out in sharp contrast to the lengths to which later scientists would go to overlook apparent mindedness , selfhood , individuality and agency : “ "Even insects play together, as has been described by that excellent observer, P.

Huber , who saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many puppies." ” Edit The study of great apes in their own environment has changed attitudes to anthropomorphism. [8] In the 1960s the three so-called " Leakey's Angels ", Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees , Dian Fossey studying gorillas and Biruté Galdikas studying orangutangs , were all accused of "that worst of ethological sins — anthropomorphism". [9] The change was brought about by their descriptions of the great apes in the field; it is now more widely accepted that empathy has an important part to play in research. As Frans de Waal writes: "To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo . But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us." [10] Alongside this has come increasing awareness of the linguistic abilities of the great apes and the recognition that they are tool-makers and have individuality and Template:Reference necessary .

In religions and mythologies Edit In religion and mythology , anthropomorphism refers to the perception of a divine being or beings in human form, or the recognition of human qualities in these beings. Many mythologies are almost entirely concerned with anthropomorphic deities who express human characteristics such as jealousy , hatred , or love (cf. Yahweh ). The Greek gods , such as Zeus and Apollo , were often depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits. Anthropomorphism in this case is sometimes referred to as Anthropotheism . Opposition to anthropomorphism Edit Template:Neolithic Many religions and philosophies have condemned anthropomorphism for various reasons. Some Ancient Greek philosophers did not approve of, and were often hostile to their people's mythology. These philosophers often developed monotheistic views. Plato's (427–347 BC ) Demiurge (craftsman) in the Timaeus and Aristotle's (384–322 BC) prime mover in his Physics are notable examples.

The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (570–480 BC) said that "the greatest god" resembles man "neither in form nor in mind." ( Clement of Alexandria , Miscellanies V xiv 109.1-3). The similarity of these philosophers' concepts of god to the concepts found in the Bible facilitated the incorporation of much pre-Christian Greek philosophy into the Medieval Christian world view by the Scholastics , most notably Thomas Aquinas . Anthropomorphism of God is rejected by Judaism and Islam , which both believe that God is beyond human limits of physical comprehension. Judaism's opposition to anthropomorphism grew after the advent of Christianity, which claimed Jesus was a physical manifestation of God, until becoming codified in 13 principles of Jewish faith authored by Maimonides in the 12th Century. This debate often led to persecution of the Jewish people in Europe. This conception is also championed by the doctrinal view of Nirguna Brahman .

From the perspective of adherents of religions in which the deity or deities have human characteristics, it may be more accurate to describe the phenomenon as theomorphism , or the giving of divine qualities to humans, rather than anthropomorphism, the giving of human qualities to the divine. According to their beliefs, the deity or deities usually existed before humans, therefore humans were created in the form of the divine. However, for those who do not believe in the doctrine of the religion, the phenomenon can be considered anthropomorphism. In his book Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion (1993), Stewart Elliott Guthrie theorizes that all religions are anthropomorphisms that originate due to the brain's tendency to detect the presence or vestiges of other humans in natural phenomena. On rare occasions the literary use of anthropomorphism has been opposed on non-religious or political grounds.

Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was banned in China's Hunan province in 1911 because "animals should not use human language" and it "put animals and human beings on the same level." [11] Later in the twentieth century George Orwell's novella Animal Farm used anthropomorphism to satirize Stalinism , as voiced by a pig in the famous passage "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". In literature Main article: Personification Anthropomorphism is a well-established device in literature from early times. Aesop's Fables, a collection of short tales written or recorded by the ancient Greek citizen Aesop , make extensive use of anthropomorphism, in which animals and weather illustrate simple moral lessons. Aesop was a major influence on the early works of Ivan Krylov , who utilized anthropomorphic animals to cunningly criticize the Tsarist regime. One poet who made high art of the literary device was the northern renaissance poet Robert Henryson in his Morall Fabillis , where the blend of human and animal characteristics is especially subtle and ambiguous .

The Indian books Panchatantra (The Five principles) and The Jataka tales employ anthropomorphized animals to illustrate various principles of life. See also Anthropomorphism | Literary Devices Literary Devices Anthropomorphism Definition: Anthropomorphism can be understood to be the act of lending a human quality, emotion or ambition to a non-human object or being. This act of lending a human element to a non-human subject is often employed in order to endear the latter to the readers or audience and increase the level of relativity between the two while also lending character to the subject. Example: The raging storm brought with it howling winds and fierce lightning as the residents of the village looked up at the angry skies in alarm. Average: Anthropomorphism - definition of anthropomorphism by The Free Dictionary Anthropomorphism - definition of anthropomorphism by The Free Dictionary an·thro·po·mor·phism (ăn′thrə-pə-môr′fĭz′əm) Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. an′thro·po·mor′phic adj. an′thro·po·mor′phi·cal·ly adv.

an′thro·po·mor′phist n. anthropomorphism the attribution of human form or behaviour to a deity, animal, etc ˌanthropoˈmorphist n - The ascription of a human attribute or personality to anything impersonal or irrational. See also related terms for personality . anthropomorphism the assignment of human shape and attributes to gods, animals, etc. — anthropomorphist, n. — anthropomorphic, anthropomorphical, anthropomorphistic, adj. representational process - any basic cognitive process in which some entity comes to stand for or represent something else Translations anthropomorphism n → Anthropomorphismus m Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: theanthropist References in periodicals archive ? Since his arrival on the New York scene more than two decades ago, the Louisiana native has been hailed for his intricately woven sculptures: whimsical, if sometimes also slightly disturbing, forms that often tip into anthropomorphism.

Peter Thomas: The noble steed comes in for a bit of animal criticism And they elicit the same from their human partners: Machine and human mirror each other, anthropomorphism meeting mechanomorphism, and the result is a distinctive form of sensuality--perverse, vaguely disturbing, but endlessly fascinating--that literally embodies the Italian philosopher Mario Perniola's call for a new human able "to give oneself as a thing that feels and to take a thing that feels. Barry Schwabsky on Daria Martin During much of the '70s, Gorchov's way of riffing on the projected anthropomorphism of action painting was to slow the gesture down and shape it, while dividing the task of mark making between the left and right hands in order to italicize the difference between them. Missing in action: Robert Storr on Ron Gorchov For the longest time, following the example of a writer I considered nearly infallible, I thought the adjective that defined the quality inherent in clouds, rocks, and so on that permits us to see various things in them--perhaps most notoriously the face of Christ--was "magmatic," and that this word got at the shifting quality of their anthropomorphism.

Question: Anthropomorphism refers to giving or attributing what qualities to something?
Answer: Human