In science, the term "pathetic fallacy" is used in a pejorative way in order to discourage the kind of figurative speech in descriptions that might not be strictly accurate and clear, and that might communicate a false impression of a natural phenomenon. An example is the metaphorical phrase "Nature abhors a vacuum", which contains the suggestion that nature is capable of abhorring something. There are more accurate and scientific ways to describe nature and vacuums.
Another example of a pathetic fallacy is the expression, "Air hates to be crowded, and, when compressed, it will try to escape to an area of lower pressure." It is not accurate to suggest that air "hates" anything or "tries" to do anything. One way to express the ideas that underlie that phrase in a more scientific manner can be found and described in the kinetic theory of gases: effusion or movement towards lower pressure occurs because unobstructed gas molecules will become more evenly distributed between high- and low-pressure zones, by a flow from the former to the latter.[13][14][15] — wikipedia: pathetic fallacy: science
I quite readily anthropomorphize dogs. I am quite aware that even a very bright dog has limits which prevent them from having the sort of complex, abstract ideas that humans have. On the other hand, most dogs seem abundantly capable of having wants, fears, preferences, learned behaviors, memories of good and bad, and various instinctive drives that add up to fairly complicated behavior.
A man and a dog connect at various levels, mutually, which is a pleasurable experience (usually -- unless the dog is trying to get you to play by shoving its slimy tennis ball into your mouth). Were I to treat the dog as a warm, wetware mechanism, there would be very little pleasure in interacting. Indeed, it might even be desirable from an ecological point of view to embrace our connection with all living creatures. Better that than treating ones cow like a machine, the forest like a warehouse, the birds like ornaments.
Anthropomorphizing one's car, one's computer, or one's force of robots is common, but mistaken. A geranium has more personality than a robotic vacuum. My computer knows nothing, feels nothing, and most of the time, does nothing. — Bitter Crank
...Some people give animals or machines human attributes in order to try and demystify or deflate them in humans. Or to see where an attribute might have arisen in a simpler form.
So the problem could be said to be mistaken or politicized or ideological comparison. — Andrew4Handel
we don't make them earn a living. — Andrew4Handel
Anthropomorphizing one's car, one's computer, or one's force of robots is common, but mistaken. — Bitter Crank
these folks are actually mistaking their car — Nils Loc
Everyone's mental states might be very different. It is actually hard to compare any mental states because of their private nature. I think that similar behavior may or may not entail similar mental states but I would not rush to conclusions. — Andrew4Handel
How do we know which things are exclusive to humans and which things are not? — creativesoul
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