Humans reframe their animal biology as culture to deny mortal embodiment
Evidence
BEING AN EMBODIED ANIMAL aware of death is difficult indeed. We simply cannot bear the thought that we are biological creatures, no different from dogs, cats, fish, or worms. Accordingly, people are generally partial to views of humans as different from, and superior to, animals. We adorn and modify our bodies, transforming our animal carcasses into cultural symbols. Rather than thinking of ourselves as hormonally regulated gene reproduction machines bumping and grinding our way toward oblivion, we “make love” to transform copulation into romance. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 611
Categorization
- DEFINE: Explains how erotic language and bodily adornment function as denial mechanisms against the terror of being mortal animals.
- XREF: connects to: The truism humans are animals is revolutionary because western culture denies it — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 51