Theory
Reification often takes place when natural or social processes are misunderstood and/or simplified; for example when human creations are described as "facts of nature, results of cosmic laws, or manifestations of divine will". Reification can also occur when a word with a normal usage is given an invalid usage, with mental constructs or concepts referred to as live beings.
When human-like qualities are attributed as well, it is a special case of reification, known as pathetic fallacy (or anthropomorphic fallacy).
- Nature provides empathy that we may have insight into the mind of others.
Reification may derive from an inborn tendency to simplify experience by assuming constancy as much as possible.
Read more about this topic: Reification (fallacy)
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“Freud was a hero. He descended to the “Underworld” and met there stark terrors. He carried with him his theory as a Medusa’s head which turned these terrors to stone.”
—R.D. (Ronald David)
“A theory if you hold it hard enough
And long enough gets rated as a creed....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The theory [before the twentieth century] ... was that all the jobs in the world belonged by right to men, and that only men were by nature entitled to wages. If a woman earned money, outside domestic service, it was because some misfortune had deprived her of masculine protection.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)