Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In pragmatistic philos., that philosophic tendency which, recognizing an absolute impossibility in the attainment by man of any conception that does not refer to human life, proposes frankly to submit to this as a decree of experience and to shape metaphysics to agreement with it. The term was first used in this sense by F. C. S. Schiller (Riddles of the Sphinx). See
humanism . - noun The ascription of human attributes to supernatural or divine beings; in theology, the conception or representation of God with human qualities and affections, or in a human shape.
- noun The conception of animals, plants, or nature in general, by analogy with man: commonly implying an unscientific use of such analogy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The representation of the Deity, or of a polytheistic deity, under a human form, or with human attributes and affections.
- noun The ascription of human characteristics to things not human.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun theology the attribution of human characteristics to
divine beings
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the representation of objects (especially a god) as having human form or traits
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The secret to the charm of her anthropomorphism is the precision of her knowledge of the responses of the creature in movement and emotion.
Archive 2008-10-01 Linda 2008
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The secret to the charm of her anthropomorphism is the precision of her knowledge of the responses of the creature in movement and emotion.
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But "anthropomorphism" is not just a trope but an identification on the level of substance.
Double-Take. Reading De Man and Derrida Writing on Tropes. 2005
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Why do we say never to indulge in anthropomorphism?
You can buy a printer, but can you buy a clue? Roger Sutton 2008
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The charge of anthropomorphism is so threatening to some white coats that, like unreconstructed Cartesians (or the current administration), they have to ignore all relevant facts to stay on course.
Zoologically Correct 2006
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The charge of anthropomorphism is so threatening to some white coats that, like unreconstructed Cartesians (or the current administration), they have to ignore all relevant facts to stay on course.
Zoologically Correct 2006
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As De Man's essay calls our attention to the fact that "anthropomorphism is not just a trope but an identification at the level of substance" (241), it acts out an intensified wariness.
Double-Take. Reading De Man and Derrida Writing on Tropes. 2005
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One can validly juxtapose here De Man's conclusion about the occurrence of the word anthropomorphism in Nietzsche's list: "The apparent enumeration is in fact a foreclosure" (241).
Double-Take. Reading De Man and Derrida Writing on Tropes. 2005
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But Christianity, in its anthropomorphism, which is its strongest hold on faith and trust, insures for the individual man in a
De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Are not the reasons on account of which the so-called anthropomorphism is to be rejected, often
The Theories of Darwin and Their Relation to Philosophy, Religion, and Morality Rudolf Schmid
maryw commented on the word anthropomorphism
Catherine Raven, Fox and I (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2021), p. 323 (glossary section)
May 21, 2023