Well, learn proper vocabulary first. Anthropocentrism is something entirely different than anthropomorphisation. Anthropocentrism comes from Greek/Latin words ho anthropos = the (hu)man and centrum = the middle, it roughly translates to "humans come first", like in "Bwah, who cares about those cows and pigs , I´ll continue eating meat.It´s JUST animals. (Important part bold). An anthropocentrist places humans above all other forms of life and thinks that human needs always rule out the needs of other life forms.
Anthropomorphism is entirely Greek, ho anthropos = human and hae morphae = the form. Anthropomorphism is when you inappropriately transpose certain human qualities and traits onto other non human life. The furry stuff is a textbook example for "optical" anthropomorphism, but other forms of AM exist, such as seeing human traits and qualities in animals that aren´t there. The "bold eagle" is a good example for that or the anthropomorpised gods of the ancient egyptians. Or when some dogowner refers to his animal as "my child" and actually treating and pampering the dog like you would pamper a child. "Seeing the human in an animal", that´s also anthropomorphisation.
AM is not recognising certain similarities in both humans and animals that are explainable by sharing the same basic blueprint. We´re all mammals, share the same brain circuits to a certain extend, but still there are vast differences between how an animal and a human see and react to the world. Mixing one with the other is AM. Assuming human like character qualities in animals 1:1 is AM. And, very popular form of AM among the zoophiles, it´s also "that nono thing" when you don´t love the animal for what it is, but seek human like qualities in the animal. Whenever both worlds are mixed, it is anthropomorphisation. I know, quite theoretical stuff, but let´s come back to the usual furry pictures for clarification. A biped "mare" with human boobs, human eyes that talks and interacts like a human = AM. It basically is the same when you go from the out- to the inside and mix animal with human character.
Again, I´m not talking about the natural similarities between human and animal behaviour. Assuming some form of "friendship" between two dogs isn´t AM yet, but thinking of it like you think of a human friendship is. Even worse when someone tries to "prove " that by "comparable behaviour", mixing human and animal realm again. Yes, the two dogs seem to be fond of each other in a sense that they don´t fight. But assuming any human qulities in them just because dog number one led you to dog number two "because number one wanted me to cuddle number two also" is basically the textbook example of AM. It could also be that this behaviour is just pack instinct, with no other reason for the dog to do that but pure instinct. In a herd of horses, friendships occur often, but they are in no way comparable to human friendships. They have totally different dynamics and means of communication, interaction and expression and comparing it to the rather bland, voice centered human approach, in horses this is a thousand times more complex and deep in a totally non human way.
AM is like treating black people as "dark white" ones, inability to shift perspective away from the own perspective, needing "bridges" to get a better grasp on the concept of life slightly different than yours with the small set of "vocabulary" your isolated reality tunnel provides...short: whenever you impose the mindset you use when dealing with humans to animals without any adaption and readjustment, then it´s AM. Example: Talking to a dog and insisting on "He understands every word!" No, the dog probably only understands the emotions transported by the tone, vibrato and loudness of your voice, he actually understands not a single word in the same sense a fellow countryman understand or even a foreigner understands the rudimentary message. That´s the reason why you´re usually taught to always use the same fixed commando when working with animals. Not the content of what you say is important, but that you say it in a similar tone. You could also just babble dadaistic cascades of words and the animal would still "get the message" because the contents don´t matter, but the form matters. Just try it when you cuddle with your animals next time. Talk to your animal in the same voice, with the same tone , but say nasty stuff like "Tomorrow you get euthanised!" The animal won´t run away in fear of his near death, it will act similar as if you have said "Who´s a good boy". Imposing human "coordinate systems " onto animals is anthropomorphisation. Yeah, some animals show eerie similarities to human behaviour and understanding, but they´re not humans at all. They never will be and that´s extraordinarily good this way.
I tried to compare my mare to any human when I was a bit younger. I wanted to find out whether it´s the similarities to human females what attracted me...but the experiment never exceeded stage one because I couldn´t think of any humanised face, any form of seeing my mare as a human at all, no matter how hard I tried. I loved my mare because she was a horse, as horsy as it can get. Any human bit in her would have made it impossible for me to fall in love with her the same way I did for more than two decades. I don´t want a quasi-human chimera, I didn´t want anything "Human" in her, I wanted the horse, the mare, as a horse, as a mare.Nothing else. I enjoyed her horse love, her horse friendship as her stallion according to her species psychological blueprint. She never was a substitute "for a real woman" for me. I wanted the horse, not some twisted mix form of huorse, or horman. AM is looked down upon in the zoo circles mainly because of the irritation it causes...are you in,love with an animal? Or is the animal just a physical representation, a canvas of projection for your deeper needs. Just look at "Hossie´s" tattoo he proudly shows off in "Animal passions"...that abomination of a "female centaur" (centaurs also being a blatant AM,btw) ...even today, I cringe when I see this guy who talks about "loving a horse", but his book, his tattoo, his actions like stuffing his pony into a wedding gown and have a fake "wedding" with the pony....that´s anthropomorphisation par excellence...from a "horse zoo". If you´re a zoo and have the desire to mix the two realms of animal and human, then don´t pull the animal over into the human world. The only acceptable form of mixing these two is in fact a "zoomorphisation". Don´t try to make the animal into a human, meet the animals in their realm, become more animal yourself. Mate with them how their species mates, not how humans mate. Love the animal, not the " human fragments" in an animal´s psyche and body. Love the actual animal, not the idea your mind made of this animal. A mare doesn´t pee during climax, she pees after intercourse to flush out excess semen, smegma and debris the mare has on and between her labia and the stallion has on his penis. There´s no human "squirting" in mares and urination isn´t a "dead sure giveaway" of equine orgasm. Realise that there still are vast differences between human and animal body functions, behaviour, mechanisms of interaction and for the animal´s psycho, the differences are even exponentially more. Yes, we are theoretically the same, but in praxis, they went down another, slightly different path of evolution. Acting otherwise and not taking the animal as an animal is AM.
Plumbum (lead) and ferrum (iron) both are metals and share the same basic molecular blueprint. But you can deform lead by hand, not iron. You can eat tiny amounts of molecular iron (just crush a pack of Kellog´s cornflakes and see what happens when you hover over the crushed flakes with a magnet) without any health issues following... you can´t do that with lead, at least not more often than once. Animals are animals, each species is different and NOT human in any way; and especially we zoos claiming to love the animal from the bottom of our heart should avoid treating them like humans. They haven´t deserved that...(I´ll leave it open if my last sentece was aimed at humans or animals...you have one guess... [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/wink.png[/img]/emoticons/
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