Ananthropic
What does Ananthropic mean?
First, let's begin with the etymological definition of the word:
Ananthropic
[uhn·an·throp·ik]
adjective:
"From the greek root 'an' which means 'negative of', plus 'anthropic' which means 'to do with humankind or the period of humankind's existence'".
SOURCETherefore, the term ananthropic is meant to describe something which is not related to humankind, or to its existence. However, more broadly it has been used to portray ideas where a non-anthropocentric perspective is taken. Examples of this usage can be found in the following two sources.
The website The Secular and the Sacred has an entry for the term which reads as follows:
This neologism is used to communicate and advance the concept of going BEYOND humankind and the blinders it has put on our awareness, that is, the limits of the human brain. It captures in a word our emphasis on the opposite of what our species has tended to do throughout history -- whether in philosophy, religion, science or politics. That is, put humans at the center of everything or interpret everything in terms of humans. This very fundamental, possibly inherent narcissist tendency we see as the source of error in everything from science to theology. As such recognition of it and decisions modified because of being aware of it could be the basis for building bridges between the secular and the sacred. [85F/W'13]
- The Secular and the Sacred, 85th statement, Fall/Winter 2013.
The term also appears in Timothy Mulgan's book Purpose in the Universe: The moral and metaphysical case for Ananthropocentric Purposivism. In his work, Ananthropocentric Purposivism is proposed as a perspective where, a) contrary to atheism the universe has a purpose, but b) contrary to benevolent theism, that purpose is not human-centered. This is better summarized by Joshua W. Seachris' review of this book.
From the above definitions we can take away the following key ideas about the term ananthropic:
- It's literal definition is: unrelated to humanity or its existence.
- It defines a perspective that strictly does not revolve around humanity (i.e. non-anthropocentric), without constraining us to any other concrete viewpoint. The ananthropic perspective advocates for the observation and interpretation of the wider universe in which we exist, beyond the constraints of the human experience.
- Specifically for the case of Mulgan's Ananthropocentric Purposivism, it enables the notion of a universal purpose that goes beyond the biases and interests of the human perspective.