Anthropomorphism

ANTHROPOMORPHISM (from Greek anthropos - man and morphe - form), i.e., human-likeness in pathology, the transference to certain reactions or elements of the organism of properties inherent in the whole human personality, for example, the concept of expediency. Every phenomenon occurring in the organism allows for a twofold approach on the part of the person studying it; firstly and mainly, from the point of view of the mechanism of its development, and secondly (additionally) - from the point of view of the consequences it causes. In the latter case, one often speaks conditionally of the "meaning" of a phenomenon, understanding by this the benefit or harm of the latter for the organism; conditionally, because often one and the same phenomenon can be both useful and harmful depending on a number of circumstances, among others, on its intensity (e.g., inflammation). Anthropomorphism in the interpretation of pathological phenomena often turns out, in essence, to be nothing more than a picturesque description of the latter, and to protest against it in such cases would be just as groundless as, for example, against the personification of phenomena of inanimate nature in works of art. If, for example, one speaks of the defense of the organism against bacteria by leukocytes, then by this one wants to emphasize the useful character of the leukocyte-phagocytic reaction for the organism in a number of cases, not at all excluding thereby the purely mechanical (or physico-chemical) basis of the phenomenon and least of all thinking about the possibility of attributing to leukocytes anything like even the most rudimentary consciousness. Sometimes, however, even major representatives of science go too far in this respect, perhaps, imperceptibly to themselves, substituting a teleological interpretation for a conditional and causal one, or introducing purely psychological concepts, for example, the concept of feeling, into the chain of physical, chemical, and physico-chemical causes and effects. Thus, for example, Bier endows the tissues of the organism with some kind of mystical "blood feeling" (Blutgefühl), forcing them in some cases to attract blood more strongly, and in others less strongly, and from this point of view provides an explanation for a number of phenomena: for example, the fact that local circulatory disorders in the external parts of the body are corrected more quickly and easily by collateral circulation than in the internal organs. A neoplasm, as something new and inexpedient, is devoid, according to Bier, of useful, expedient qualities inherited from distant ancestors, including "Blutgefühl"; Bier explains such phenomena as, for example, inflammatory hyperemia with the same thing. The fact of the lower working capacity of organs affected by inflammation is, among other things, explained by Bier as follows: "When performing a necessary function, the organism devotes itself entirely to it and can only do two important things at the same time poorly (1)... The inflamed part of the body does not work in order (?!), so as not to waste its strength uselessly," etc. Such exaggerated anthropomorphism is undoubtedly harmful as it substitutes a pseudo-scientific interpretation for a strictly scientific one.