An example of the use of metaphor and anthropomorphism in popular science writing:
"The AIDS virus subverts its host's cells. It forces them to make replicas of itself with an enzyme whose job it is to copy information from the invader's RNA into human DNA. Each new particle hides itself in a cloak of cell membrane into which it inserts a protein. This is the key to the infection as it fits into matched molecules on the surface of blood cells and opens the door to their interior."
Prof. Steve Jones
Steve Jones (1999) Almost Like a Whale: The origin of species updated. Doubleday
There is quite lot going on here. Virus 'subverts' cells. An enzyme has a 'job'. Virus particles 'hide' in a 'cloak'. A protein acts as the 'key' that 'opens a door' into blood cells.
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
To say an enzyme has a job perhaps seems just another way of sugesting it hs a function, but this may seem to suggest a deliberate, designed arrangment, whereas science suggests these 'functions' evolved due to natural selection. The phrasing may therefore suggest teleology, a sense of purpose:
Read about teleology in science
Read examples of teleological (pseudo)explanations for scientific pheneomena
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
