Anthropomorphism

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An anthropomorphic character; a cat ascribed human characteristics.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics and qualities to nonhuman beings, inanimate objects, or natural or supernatural phenomena. Animals, forces of nature, and unseen or unknown sources of chance are frequent subjects of anthropomorphosis. The term is derived from two Greek words, ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos), meaning human, and μορφή (morphē), meaning shape or form. The suffix '-ism' originates from the morpheme -ισμός or -ισμα in the Greek language.

It is a common and seemingly natural tendency for humans to perceive inanimate objects as having human characteristics, although few believe this to be of significance. Common examples of this tendency include naming cars or begging machines to work. In 1953, the U.S. government began assigning hurricanes names; initially the names were feminine, and shortly thereafter masculine names were introduced.

1 In religions and mythologies
2 In literature
3 In popular culture
4 In artificial intelligence
5 In technical fields
6 In rhetoric and logical reasoning
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] In religions and mythologies

The Roman god Apollo depicted as an anthropomorphic representation of the Sun.

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. The Greek gods, such as Zeus and Apollo, were often depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits.

[edit] In Biblical literalism

Ancient anthropomorphized rocks and pebbles, found in current-day Israel

Numerous sects throughout history have been called anthropomorphites, including a sect in Egypt in the 4th century, and a group in the Roman Catholic Church in the 10th century, who literally interpreted Genesis chapter 1, verse 27: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

[edit] In Hinduism

The ten avatars of the Hindu supreme god Vishnu possess both human and divine forms and qualities, although their degrees of divinity vary. In Vaishnavism, a monotheistic faith, Vishnu is omniscient and benevolent, in contrast to gods of the Greek and Roman religions. See Conceptions of God in Hinduism.

[edit] Condemnation of anthropomorphism

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 BCE) Demiurge (craftsman) in the Timaeus and Aristotle's (384–322 BCE) prime mover in his Physics are notable examples. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (570–480 BCE) 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.

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 fact, Stewart Elliott Guthrie, in his book Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion (1993), theorizes that all religions are simply anthropomorphisms that originate in the human brain's tendency to over-detect the presence or vestiges of other humans in the natural world.

[edit] In literature

Anthropomorphic characters created by Beatrix Potter

Anthropomorphism is a well-established device in literature. 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. The Indian books Panchatantra (The Five priniciples) and The Jataka tales employ anthropomorphized animals to illustrate various principles of life.

Anthropomorphism is commonly employed in books for children, such as those by Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, Brian Jacques, C.S. Lewis, and Beatrix Potter. Rev. W. Awdry's Railway Series depicts steam locomotives with human-like faces and personalities.

However, anthropomorphism is not exclusively used as a device in children's literature: Terry Pratchett is notable for having several anthropomorphic characters in his Discworld series, the best-known of which is the character Death. Piers Anthony also wrote a series regarding the seven Incarnations of Immortality, which are Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil, and Good. Neil Gaiman is notable for anthropomorphising seven aspects of the world in his series Sandman, named the Endless, Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium.

[edit] In popular culture

Anthropomorphized animals are frequently used to portray stereotypical characters, in order for the author or artist to quickly convey character traits; notable examples include George Orwell's Animal Farm and animated films such as Disney's Robin Hood, in which a lion is the king and the title character is a fox. The human characteristics commonly ascribed to animals in popular culture often highlight their perceived disposition or personality (owls are typically portrayed as wise), their appearance (penguins are usually portrayed as plump aristocrats, as their plumage resembles a tuxedo); or a combination of both (raccoons are commonly portrayed as bandits, because the band of dark colored fur around their eyes resembles a mask, and because they roam at night).

Many famous children's television characters are anthropomorphized funny animals such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Kermit the Frog as well as anthropomorphized inanimate objects such as SpongeBob Squarepants. Educational programs like Sesame Street often use anthropomorphized figures of letters, numbers or shapes to help teach their concepts. While being comical is a common trait, it is not a rule; Bert the Turtle, the main character in the educational film Duck and Cover is a notable exception.

While television series intended for children often feature anthropomorphic animals, series intended for adult audiences such as Family Guy also make use of anthropomorphized characters; the family dog, named Brian, not only speaks, but is a college-educated world traveler.

Snoopy of Peanuts and Garfield of the series of the same name are anthropomorphic yet live in a world inhabited by humans rather than animals who act as humans. The humans of both series do not seem to find Snoopy and Garfield's anthropomorphic nature at all unusual and appear to take it for granted.

Many kids' book series and cartoon programming, such as Arthur, Franklin the Turtle and Richard Scarry's works usually feature a cast of all anthropomorphic animals. For instance, Arthur is an aardvark, Franklin is a turtle and Mr. Fix-It is a fox.

Video games often feature anthropomorphized animals; Conker's Bad Fur Day, Crash Bandicoot, Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Fox are some famous examples. In personal computing, OS-tan, an Internet phenomenon on the Futaba Channel, personifies computer programs, specifically operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS 9 and Windows.

Since approximately the 1980s, a subculture that describes itself as furry fandom has focused on the appreciation and promotion of stories and art involving anthropomorphic animals, as well as the examination and interpretation of humanity through anthropomorphism.

[edit] In artificial intelligence

ASIMO, an anthropomorphic robot created by Honda

The study and development of artificial intelligence identifies the tendency to see human characteristics in inanimate objects as potentially more significant, especially as computers begin to reach the point at which they can recognize spoken language. Some computers display very specific and specialized categories of simulated human behaviour, such as learning from mistakes, anticipating input, playing chess and other games which require human-like intelligence.

Anthropomorphism particularly effects the field of robotics, especially in instances of robots that are given human forms. Anthropomorphobia, a phobia traditionally associated with anxiety responses to nonhuman living things that seem to display human behavior, is also used to define the phobia of nonliving things that exhibit human qualities.

[edit] In technical fields

Hackers and programmers are known to anthropomorphise technology, mostly as a time-saving metaphorical device. Complex technology, specifically computers, can exhibit complicated behaviors that can be lengthy to describe in purely inanimate terms (note that describing computer systems as having behaviors may itself be considered a kind of anthropomorphism). Therefore, hackers may use human actions and emotions to describe the behavior of a computer system. For example, if a program encounters minor errors but can still accomplish its task, it may do so but send the user an error message. Especially in instances where the error encountered is considered trivial, a hacker might describe the computer as "complaining." This human action (complaining) conveys that there is a difficulty, while acknowledging the trivial nature of the difficulty, and perhaps the fact that the program did what was required despite the difficulty.

See the section on anthropomorphism in the Jargon File for more information, including the self-referentially hackish joke on the topic "Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that".

This form of anthropomorphism is also common in other technical fields. For example, a chemist might casually explain an ionic bond between sodium and chlorine by asserting that the sodium atom "wants" to merge with the chlorine atom, although the chemist knows that atoms are incapable of having preferences. A similar example in biology is the selfish gene theory.

Similarly, in finance, a financial market that rises and falls might be described as "fickle." However, because it is a process made possible by humans, and directly effected by human actions (particularly reactions to market forces), the market is theoretically capable of reflecting human emotions. If the criterion for anthropomorphism is that the subject is ascribed human attributes it does not have, financial markets and other demographic forces may not qualify. However, they might be considered true personifications of human emotion, and qualify much like the personification of desire.

[edit] In rhetoric and logical reasoning

Anthropomorphism in the form of personification consists of creating imaginary persons who are the embodiment of an abstract concept such as lust, war, or death.

See Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

In classical rhetoric, personification is a figure of speech, or more specifically, a trope, that employs the deliberate use of anthropomorphism, usually in attempt to make an emotional appeal. In rhetorical theory, a distinction is often drawn between personification (anthropomorphism of inanimate, but real, objects) and figures such as apostrophe, in which an absent people or abstract concepts are addressed.

An example of rhetorical personification:

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet-flowing breast.

– Joyce Kilmer, Trees

An example of rhetorical apostrophe:

O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!

– Walter Raleigh, History of the World

Using anthropomorphized caricatures or projecting human qualities on conceptual entities or inanimate objects in reasoning is also known as committing a pathetic fallacy (in logical reasoning, this is not a pejorative term).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

¹ This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain. Anthropomorphite.
Shipley, Orby. ed. A glossary of ecclesiastical terms. 1872.