Pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human emotions and thought processes to non-human things. It can be used in scientific hypotheses, literary works, and rhetorical techniques. The term was coined by John Ruskin in the 19th century. It can simplify the discussion of abstract concepts and establish metaphorical relationships between objects or abstract concepts.
A pathetic fallacy attributes human emotions and thought processes to something other than a human being: an object or animal, which is known as anthropomorphization. The concept can apply to the construction of a scientific hypothesis or to the description of a physical phenomenon. It can also refer to a rhetorical technique that creates a connection between dissimilar subjects – the emotion of anger and the sea, for example – or personifies inanimate objects. “Pathetic mistake” is not a derogatory term. “Pathetic” has the same root as “empathy,” which means physically conveying emotions to another.
The concept was originally described by John Ruskin in the 19th century. In a critique of the then prevalent practice of personifying the natural world, Ruskin decried what he saw as an abrogation of truth in the pursuit of imaginative artistic expression. He coined the phrase specifically to describe a misidentification of animate with inanimate elements. As the Romantic era progressed, a tendency to describe and view the world in strictly empathetic terms became popular among those engaged in intellectual pursuits.
When discussing scientific description, a pathetic error indicates a failure of logic in constructing a theory or theoretical framework. While less relevant in the discussion of contemporary scientific practice, much of the science of earlier eras teetered on the merits of imparting human emotional and intellectual capacities to non-human objects. Any explanation that attributes a reason to an object is committing a pathetic fallacy.
In literary terms, a pathetic fallacy is useful as it helps establish metaphorical relationships between objects or abstract concepts that are not easily established. For example, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are numerous instances where nature is anthropomorphised – a “feverish” Earth or an “unruly” night – to construct a theme showing disapproval of Macbeth’s seizure of the throne of Scotland. . This disapproval is made evident by the comparison of what is natural with the consequences of the subversion of nature. Of course, the night itself cannot be “unruly.” Shakespeare further extends the pathetic fallacy with the prophecy that Macbeth will be killed only when a forest approaches his castle and a man who was not born of a woman comes to kill him.
The pathetic mistake can also simplify the discussion of abstract concepts. For example, an instructor might want to say “a moving object wants to stay in motion, until it is driven by an external force”. Obviously the object doesn’t “want” anything. He has no desires or motivations of any kind. But such a mistake can help students understand a concept they are not familiar with.
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