anthropomorphism

Claims of anthropomorphism that may be directed to much of this work are possible based on assumptions of human superiority (Haraway, 2003; Plumwood, 2002; Smith, 2006) common to 'modernized' cultures in general, and post-theorizing specifically (see Armbruster, 1998; Bell & Russell, 2000; Russell, 2005), that fail to acknowledge the sentience and communicative abilities or non-human others. As noted by Horowitz (2007), the assumption that "any mental ability exhibited by human beings is necessarily exclusive to humans is presumptuous" (p. 63).

Together with challenges of essentializing and romanticism, blanket accusations of anthropomorphism make it difficult to identify and embody an ecological self that can speak and hear across the socially constructed human/nature divide. These kinds of assumptions are evident in arguments such as that put forth by Bowerbank (1998).