Degrees of Animal Sapience

This blogpost is about the levels of anthropopathy and sapience in animals. Just like anthropomorphism is the attribution of human physical form, anthropopathy is the attribution of human mind. Anthropopathy is a storytelling technique that determines how much an animal, alien, plant, robot, object, e.t.c., acts human or how human or equally it is treated.


Here are the definitions of the two words:

anthropopathy - acts like a human in Greek
anthropomorphism - shaped like a human in Greek

Note that the word "anthropopathy," is archaic. Both meanings have been folded into "anthropomorphism" for hundreds of years.


Here are the fourteen levels of animal sapience:

Level 0: Works focused more on humans, where animals appear and act just like real animals.  A few works based on this level may focus just as much on the animals as on the people or even more on the animals, but the vast majority focus more on humans. 

Level 1: Animals are sapient, but don't think or reason like humans: they're self aware, they think (to themselves), they can reason, and we see their emotions and communication, but still behave exactly like real animals do. They are viewed as normal animals by humans.

Level 2: Animals think and reason like humans: they're self aware, they think (still to themselves) and reason like humans, they do a few human things, and we see their emotions and communication, but still behave mostly like real animals do. They are still viewed as normal animals by humans.

Level 3: Animals act at least somewhat like humans but do not interact with humans, in a human way: they do at least some human things, but they are still viewed as normal animals by humans.  This is the level in between Level 2 and Level 4.

Level 3 Variant: Animals live in some kind of mouse world, but do not interact with humans, at least not in a human way. This is a variant of the level in between Level 2 and Level 5.

Level 4: Animals that are still considered animals but interact with humans in a slightly human way: The animals are not considered equals, but they interact with humans in a slightly human manner, i.e., talking to humans.

Level 5: Animals that are still considered animals but interact with humans in a somewhat to mostly human way: The animals are still not considered equals, but they interact with humans in a somewhat to mostly human manner.

Level 6: Only some animals are considered equals to humans: Can be either like Level 7, Level 8, or Level 9, except that only some (or at least not all) animals are considered equals to humans.

Level 7: Works about animals and humans as basically equal, where animals live among humans and are treated as unremarkable by humans.  The animals are still not behaviorally indistinguishable from humans and are still not treated like humans.  In other words, they either don't act like humans at all, or only seem to act like humans.  However, they are treated as equals to humans, even the animals that don't live among humans. 

Level 8: Animals act like and are treated like equals to humans, where animals live among humans and are pretty behaviorally indistinguishable from them (or at least somewhat so), as well as being treated as unremarkable by humans.  The animals are treated like equals, but are only treated somewhat like humans to not like humans at all.

Level 9: Works about animals that act and are treated like humans and are their equals, where animals live among humans and are basically behaviorally indistinguishable from them (or at least mostly so), as well as being treated as unremarkable by humans.  The animals are not only treated like equals, but also treated mostly like humans.

Level 10: Humans are represented by animals where the different animal species (even the human species) actually represent human ethnic groups, religions, cultural groups, nationalities, e.t.c.  The animals could be any level from Levels 2 to 9. 

Level 11: Works about some animals as human surrogates and some normal animals: The whole animal universe is man-made, with shops, houses, technology etc, except that some animals take the place of people and others are considered normal animals. The level the normal animals belong in can range from Level 0 to Level 3 or even Level 4 or Level 5.  In some versions, the normal animals are treated as equals to the human surrogate animals.  Sometimes, only one species of animal is a human surrogate.  There may be humans at this level, whether token or not.

Level 12: Works about nearly all animals as human surrogates: The whole animal universe is man-made, with shops, houses, technology etc, except that all the animals take the place of people. All the animals are human surrogates and considered equals to each other.  Very occasionally, only one species of animal is a human surrogate.  Like at Level 11 there may be humans at this level, whether token or not. 

Level 13: Humans are represented by human surrogate animals: Like Level 11 or Level 12, but the different animal species (even the human species) actually represent human ethnic groups, religions, cultural groups, nationalities, e.t.c..  Like level 10, but the animals that represent the humans are human surrogates (Levels 11 and 12).