7th millennium BC anthropomorphized rocks, with slits for eyes, found in modern-day Israel. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics.

An anthropomorphic character; a cat ascribed human characteristics.

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. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Subjects for anthropomorphism commonly include animals 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. Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for Enjoyment and sometimes also used as an Educational tool Almost anything can be subject to anthropomorphism. The term derives from a combination of Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos), human and μορφή (morphē), shape or form. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Humans seem to have an innate capacity to project human characteristics in this way. Evidence from art and artefacts 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. Storytelling is the ancient art of conveying events in Words Images and Sounds often by Improvisation or embellishment Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behaviour. A fable is a succinct story in prose or verse that features Animals Plants inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are In Metaphysics, a type is a Category of being. A Human is a type of thing a cloud is a type of thing ( Entity) and so on The use of such literature to draw moral conclusions can be highly complex. Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings ^[1]

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. Frans BM de Waal, PhD (born 29 October 1948, 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch Psychologist, Primatologist and Ethologist

In religions and mythologies

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. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Many mythologies are almost entirely concerned with anthropomorphic deities who express human characteristics such as jealousy, hatred, or love. See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. The Greek gods, such as Zeus and Apollo, were often depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits. }} Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology Anthropomorphism in this case is sometimes referred to as Anthropotheism. Anthropotheism is ascribing human form and nature to gods or the belief that gods are only Deified human beings

Anthropomorphites

Numerous sects throughout history have been called anthropomorphites attributing such things as hands and eyes to God, including a sect in Egypt in the 4th century, and a group in the Roman Catholic Church in the 10th century, who literally interpreted Book of 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. In the Sociology of religion a sect is generally a smaller religious or political group that has broken off from a larger group for example from a This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century "^[2]

Opposition to 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. Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of Reason and Inquiry. 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. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos Timaeus ( Greek: Τίμαιος, Timaios) is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. The cosmological argument is an Argument for the Existence of God or a " First Cause " Physics (or "Physica" or "Physicae Auscultationes" meaning "lessons" is a key text in the philosophy of Aristotle. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (570–480 BC) said that "the greatest god" resembles man "neither in form nor in mind. Xenophanes of Colophon ( Greek ( 570 – 480 BC was a Greek Philosopher, Poet, and social and religious Critic. " (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies V xiv 109. Saint Clement of Alexandria (born Titus Flavius Clemens) (c150 - 211/216 was the first notable member of the Church of Alexandria, and one of its most 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. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin A comprehensive world view (or worldview) is a term Calqued from the German word Weltanschauung ( Welt is the German Scholasticism was the dominant form of theology and philosophy in the Latin West in the Middle Ages, particularly in the 12th 13th and 14th centuries Anthropomorphism of God is condemned by Islam, since Muslims feel that God is beyond human limits of physical comprehension. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. This conception is also championed by the doctrinal view of Nirguna Brahman. Nirguna Brahman, (literally the attributeless Brahman, Devanagari: निर्गुण ब्रह्म refers to Supreme Reality which pervades through the

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. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence Theomorphism, from Greek θεος theos ( God) and μορφη morphē (shape or form refers to the 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.

Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was banned in China's Hunan province because "animals should not use human language" and it "put animals and human beings on the same level. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (ˈdɒdsən (27 January 1832 &ndash 14 January 1898 better known by the Pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/ was an English Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865 is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson better known under the Pseudonym Lewis Many societies have banned certain Books This is a partial list of books that have been banned. ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning "^[3]

In literature

Main article: Personification

Anthropomorphism is a well-established device in literature from early times. Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable Rule of thumb, convention or Structure that is employed 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. Aesop (also spelled Æsop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος — Aisōpos) (620-560 BC) known only for the genre of Fables The weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given Atmosphere at a given Time. The Indian books Panchatantra (The Five principles) and The Jataka tales employ anthropomorphized animals to illustrate various principles of life. The Panchatantra (also spelled Pañcatantra, in Sanskrit: पञ्चतन्त्र 'Five Principles' or Kalīleh o Demneh The Jātaka Tales ( Sanskrit जातक and Pali, Malay: jetaka Lao: satok refer to a voluminous body of Folklore -like literature

Anthropomorphism is commonly employed in books for children, however not exclusively.

See also

References

• Shipley, Orby. ed. A glossary of ecclesiastical terms. 1872.

External links

• Anthropomorphism at The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight