Anthropotheosis, or the deification of humanity and the cultural erasure of animal otherness

<title>Abstract</title> <p>This article describes and elaborates the concept of “anthropotheosis” - the elevation of humanity to mythical or divine status within cultural discourse, simultaneously diminishing non-human animals to inferior ontological positions. Drawing on critical animal studies, semiotics, and cultural theory, the analysis demonstrates how anthropotheotic processes operate through four primary mechanisms: anthropocentrism (human self-positioning as causally central), speciesism (claims of human superiority and uniqueness), anthropocracy (assertions of legitimate domination), and anthropization (conceptual and physical occupation of spaces according to human interests). The article extends existing scholarship by differentiating between “basic anthropotheosis” (inevitable human-centered perception) and “constructed anthropotheosis” (ideological positioning establishing hierarchical binaries). Through examination of cultural representations - particularly cinema and visual media - the analysis reveals how anthropomorphism paradoxically functions both as scientific taboo and artistic license, exposing contradictions in how human cultures construct animal alterity. The article proposes a taxonomy of anthropization types and demonstrates how anthropotheotic discourse mirrors oppressive ideological structures within human societies. This framework offers critical tools for analyzing how contemporary culture simultaneously acknowledges post-anthropocentric philosophy while perpetuating deeply anthropotheotic practices. The implications extend beyond animal studies to broader questions of how dominant cultures mythologize themselves through constructing and controlling “otherness.”</p>