According to the Catholic Encyclopedia anthropomorphism is
Beyond religion and philosophy, we find the term also used for any
tendency to give non-humans the attributes of humans, i.e. to act
as if
animals have emotions, attitudes, intentions, goals, and characteristics
of human beings. In folk tales, myths etc. we find crows, foxes, other
animals being given voices, and
they talk and act like humans.
In science, especially the study of biology and animal behavior,
anthropomorphism is something
to be avoided---biologists should not act as if they find
human-like
behaviors among animals, i.e. the vervid monkey is not
resenting certain treatment, or does not feel shame etc.
or remorse because these are human emotions. Biologists must avoid, in
other words, attributing these motivations to the animals, because we
cannot know what their thought process is.
Anthropomorphism is common, however, in popular culture, and we
often find
animals (in advertising etc. as well as in
cartoons, etc. ) acting with human attributes, and of course, with
language . In fact, in many cartoons, animals are depicted as
having language with which they communicate with each other, but either
they deliberately conceal this from humans (for
self-protection
or whatever), or humans are
too stupid to figure their language out.
We also have another kind of anthropomorphism, which refers to primitive
hominids (Neanderthals etc.) and their ability to communicate, and our
inability to judge how much language and/or technology they actually
mastered. There are also jokes and cartoons that make fun of wild men
like Tarzan, and his 'primitive' linguistic and
communicative skills. And there are also ads in the media that use
sounds of animals to simulate speech, as in the
Budweiser commercials, where frogs and other swamp creatures seem to
be asking for Budweiser beer. One of my favorite types is the one that
makes fun of the `my
dog ate the homework' excuse many students (used to)
use to explain why their work is late.
In science
fiction, non-human creatures (extra-terrestrials etc.) from other planets
are often depicted as having some human-like attributes, including
language, but with differences.
According to an article by
Kurt Andersen in the New Yorker, July 7, 1997, there are six basic
types of aliens. What we are interested in is what kind of language
abilities the different types have, i.e. is there a correlation
between body type and linguistic proficiency in human language (especially
English; what other language is there?) Andersen's six types:
In the scale of humanness, these range from very
human-like to extremely un-human, and the less human they are, the more
disgusting and evil they usually act. The clones, however, may be evil
but are using a human form and language to deceive us and with an
intent to do us in. Being able to speak American English may be proof of
their clever evilness, not their benign niceness.
This scale of humanness goes along with a scale of language, with the more
human ones having language indistinguishable from "us" with a gradual
shading off into less-and-less human language (more
robotic or electronic
sounding) such as the character R2D2
(who also can sound `cute' or
`upset')
in Star Wars, and then finally complete gibberish, or perhaps with no
vocalization at all---communication takes place by some other method, e.g.
mental telepathy.
As you do your studies, look for these correlations, both for animals in
Disney movies
(etc.) and for creatures, including humans, in other genres
of movies. Remember that the point of showing disgusting creepy shapes,
and horrific kinds of language is often to demonize the creature
in question, allowing us free rein to destroy the creatures because they
have no human attributes. They're just some slimy insectoid thing from
outer space.
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.
