Anthropocentrism - It's "just" a word...

Submitted by Charles Frost on Tue, 04/17/2007 - 08:03.

 

Noun 1. anthropocentrism - an inclination to evaluate reality exclusively in terms of human values

Related to:

an·thro·po·cen·tric

play_w("A0332000")

(nthr-p-sntrk) adj.
1. Regarding humans as the central element of the universe.
2. Interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience

Excellent word of the day

Thanks, Bill. That word offers much reflection at a time deserving that. What do you think is the antonym?

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according to wikipedia it's biocentrism

Now that is a great word... biocentric!

Good work, Susan. And what a great word... is we as a society were biocentric we would not have any of the problems I see us having in the world today.

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A.Word.A.Day--speciesism

speciesism (SPEE-shee-ziz-uhm, -see-ziz-uhm) noun

   The assumption of superiority of humans over other animal species,
   especially to justify their exploitation.

[Coined by psychologist Richard D. Ryder (born 1940) in 1973. From  Latin species (appearance, kind, form), from specere (to look). Ultimately  from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is also the ancestor of such words as suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer),  espionage, despise, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.]

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  "At one point in Darwin's voyage to South America, James Moore told me, the naturalist stopped in Brazil, where his blood ran cold to see slaves in manacles being tortured by Catholic traders. Darwin was enraged as a Christian, but also as a scientist, because he recognized that the slave trade relied on the false notion that slaves were a different,
inferior and exploitable species.
  "Upon his return to England, Darwin extended the idea to the way people treated animals, an early precursor to Richard Dawkins's argument about speciesism. 'To say man is the pinnacle of creation and all things were created for him ... Darwin says that is the same arrogance we see in the slave master,' said Moore."

   Shankar Vedantam; Eden and Evolution; Washington Post; Feb 5, 2006.

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Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.  -William James,
psychologist (1842-1910)

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arrogance we see in the slave master

Thanks Bill for getting my mind to a higher level... it is so easy to get down in the local gutter these grey realneo days, when the real battles ahead are global
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The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank

 

I cannot take credit for the title, as it belongs to Erma Bombeck... (http://www.amazon.com/Grass-Always-Greener-Over-Septic/dp/0449207595)

...but as I said to a friend last night, if one insists on spending ones time researching such things, and once one has removed the the sod and the cover of the tank, the rest is just the result of basic human processes.

I am always sad to hear the words of my cynical father born out yet again.... "Politicians?" "Of course they all are crooks.... you just want to vote for the ones that are smart enough that they haven't gotten caught... yet."

Hope for change with generations Y and Max

Certainly the driving message behind Obama is the desire for change in how our government, nation and world think and act, and that energy for change will drive to the state, regional and local levels.

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my nephew sent this to me last night

If there were ever something worth spamming...
 
 
No matter what your views about politics, this is an historic speech. Barack, you had me at hello.
 
yours,
jonathan