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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
We have all heard the statement, "Nature abhors a vacuum." It is a way of saying that any decent vacuum is very hard to achieve and maintain. There are theoretical reasons for this. But, instead of explaining the reasons, at length, it is easier to just quote the cliche. That statement, "Nature abhors a vacuum," is an example of anthropomorphism. This means that we are giving nature some human properties. This is very common in all of the sciences. We might say that a rock "wants to fall downward," or "wants to travel in a straight line," or water "wants to achieve a certain level." This is helpful, to help people get a feel for physics. And it is a trap. Physicists are aware of this, and try to be careful not to delude themselves and their audiences. A physicist may say, "By that, I mean that the rock tends to fall downward, as its initial motion is changed by the force of gravity. It doesn't actually want to do anything."
Anthropomorphism is even more dangerous in biology, where it is very easy to assign human thoughts and desires to animals. They may have some of these thoughts and desires. But it is too easy to assume that they do, without much evidence.