Denial of Death and the Relationship between Humans and Other Animals

ABSTRACT

The focus of this paper is to explore how cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker's claim that human behavior is largely motivated by fear of death may explain important aspects of our relationship with nonhuman animals. Terror management theory (tmt) suggests that when we humans are reminded of our personal mortality, we tend to deny our biological identity or creatureliness and distance ourselves from the other animals, since they remind us of our own mortal nature. In support of this, an abundance of peerreviewed experimental literature shows that reminders of our own mortality create a strong psychological need to proclaim that “I am not an animal.” We contend that the denial of death is an important factor in driving how and why our relationships with other animals are fundamentally exploitive and harmful. Even though today there are more animal advocacy and protection organizations than ever, the situation for nonhuman animals continues to deteriorate (e.g., more factory farming, mass extinction of wildlife species, and ocean life under severe stress). We also suggest that developing a new and more appropriate relationship with the natural world would be a key factor in resolving the question that Becker was never able to answer: how can we deal with the existential anxiety that is engendered by the awareness of our own mortality?

Keywords:

• animality
• Becker
• creatureliness
• denial of death
• terror management theory