Opposition to the practice of giving human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.
From Greek 'anti-' (against) + 'anthropomorphos' (having human form), from 'anthropos' (human) + 'morphe' (form). The concept became important in 20th-century philosophy and animal behavior science to avoid misunderstanding animal behavior.
Scientists realized that when we assume animals think like us—saying a dog 'smiles' or 'feels guilty'—we might completely misunderstand what they're actually experiencing, so studying behavior without this bias became crucial.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.