nature and culture Flashcards
european philosophy
humans at the top of the hierarchy; the scale of intellect 1330
aristotlte christian doctrine
humans have soul—> therefore different frnom animals; great chain of being
enlightenment and nature
descartes (17th century)
“i think therefore i am”
agreed that ONLY humans have consciousness
animals; nothing but animated machines with no emotion or agency
mind/matter/body; non human life is mechanistic
critique of enlightnment concept of chain of being
hume: animals DO have emotion; a sad dog after losing master
science and nature
weshare DNA with animals/plants (physical connection)
but humans have intelligence, culture, language, reason ,etc= MORAL and INTELLECTUAL hierarchy
creates a metaphyisical dicontinuity (mind and spirit different); nature/culture divide
edward b tylor
(primitive man 1871); ‘knowledge, blief, arts and moral customs makes a man a member of society’
- agreed culture was UNIQUE feature of humans; civilizzation was socially created
- still place humans over animals; intensified this difference as humans participate in society
modernist take on nature
euro-amiercan; there is a sepeeration of nature and culutre.
(this isnt bad, just a specific view.)
- not a CLEAR divide as studies show animals have language, intellgience and emotion which challenges this view
Victorian anthropology effect on nature/culture divide
intensified this view by placing humans as ‘most evolved’
- humans as sole point of study
- human and animal relations might vary in different societies; attacheted to tribal/less evolved/nonmodern societieies
animism
tylorian concept of religious belief of the 19th century;
everything has a soul & consciousness; inatimate objects are animate
‘belief that inatimate forms/natural phenomena posses an animating force, endowing objects with emotional, intellectual and spiritual qualities parallelling humans’
tylor and animism
- attached animism to primitive man; as ‘less rational mind’; similar to a child
- tribal/hunter-gathered groups who live in nature, therefore out of civiilization
- biological/environmental surivival reliance creates a stronger relationship to animals and the enviroment
- this cosmological orientation; individuals in animated world MUST coexist and interact with other beings
aboriginals in australia and nature
BELIEF: world created by a rainbow serpent in the dream time, hence all beings come from one (strong human-natural relations)
Land—> sacred and with mythical creatures and spirits
e. g. river spirits ‘cant kill a catfish as he has my spirit and therefor ekilling it is killing myself’ (spirit in everything)
e. g. rituals and dance; grant spirits power who grant humans with fertility; white paint used as this ritual link
totemism
a form of animism where non-organic objects have spiritiual forms to reflect the sharing of the human-animal-plant link
what did levi strauss want to investigate
wanted to understand totemism: how it works structurally; argued it was a feature of human universal though
structuralism
doctrine/method that privilliges structures over function in animals/humans
structuralism and levi strauss
anthropoligical focus shoudl look at patterns of universal human though which result in cultural categories
- structures can be looked at in isolation; need to bee viewed as part of a interrelated whhole to understand social world
- mind is similar; therefore cultural variation are used by people to understanding and bring meaning to the world