What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Anthropomorphism vs Reification - What's the difference?

anthropomorphism | reification |

As nouns the difference between anthropomorphism and reification

is that anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to that which isn't human while reification is the consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.

anthropomorphism

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to that which isn't human.
  • (theology) the attribution of human characteristics to divine beings

    • Usage notes

    This term carries very different connotations when used in different contexts. In literature, anthropomorphism' describes merely a device of fiction writing, whereas in science (particularly biology) ' anthropomorphism has traditionally been used pejoratively when a scientist appears to be attributing to animals characteristics that are assumed to be exclusive to human beings.

    Related terms

    * anthropomorphic * anthropomorphically

    See also

    * ("anthropomorphism" on Wikipedia) * prosopopoeia * zoomorphism * kemonomimi * nahualism English words suffixed with -ism

    reification

    English

    Noun

  • The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
  • The consideration of a human being as an impersonal object.
  • (programming) Process that makes a computable/addressable object out of a non-computable/addressable one.
  • The transformation of a natural-language statement into a form in which its actions and events are quantifiable variables.

    • Synonyms

    * hypostatization * objectification * pathetic fallacy * thingification

    Derived terms

    * reify