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Primary Reification and Primitive Mythology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Lawrence Krader
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Extract

The expression of the nature and identity of mankind in the abstract, however clear it may be as a concept, is neither well thought out nor fully explored; hence it is at once the triumph and defeat of speculative and empirical anthropology. To be human is to participate in mankind in general, and to participate in a particular culture; it is the latter which is known best. Objectively, the individual achieves his human nature only through the channel of the particular culture, not through that of mankind in general; in this sense we speak of particular human nature. The unity and uniqueness of mankind as the culture-bearer, while having gained formal expression, has been given little substantial content. Moreover, the concept of the abstract concept, the totality as unity, has few consequences in relations between peoples and between social classes. The individual identity of man is engendered by the expression of his being of his own kind as opposed to the being of those other nations and classes, and as opposed eventually to the being of the other; this mode of achieving identity is counterposed to the concept of the unity of man, and the unity of the separate human group with mankind as a whole.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 14 , Issue 56 , December 1966, pp. 51 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © 1966 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

1 W. Bogoraz, "The Chukchee". American Museum of Natural History. Memoirs, vol. XI. (Jesup North Pacific Expedition, vol. VII) 1904-1909, pp. 11-20.

* In the study of kinship, distinction is made between terms of address and of reference, which is here applied to the system of tribal denomination. The Chukchian terms referring to their various divisions are terms of reference only. The terms with which they refer to themselves as a whole are of a different kind: their common term of reference is a characterization; it is not a term of address. Chukchi ethnography was studied by W. Bogoraz while he and his colleague, W. Jochelson, were in political exile in Siberia as members of the Narodnaya Volya. Later, they returned to their subject as accredited ethno graphers of official Tsarist and U.S. expeditions. Bogoraz attempted to gain consensus on the term Luorovetlan, a Russified form of lyerorawelat, but the Chukchis and all other peoples have lately opted for Chukchi as the term of address and reference for Chukchis as a whole.

2 F. Boas, "Folk-Tales of the North American Indians," Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 27, 1914, pp. 374-410. Race, Language and Culture, 1940, pp. 451-490.

3 E. Durkheim and M. Mauss, "De quelques formes primitives de la clas sification," Année Sociologique, 1901-1902, vol. 6, pp. 1-72.

4 J. B. Bury, The Ancient Greek Historians, 1958, p. 56.

5 K. Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia (L. Wirth and E. Shils, tr.), 1959, pp. 9, 96.

6 W. Bogoraz, "Ideas of Space and Time," American Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 27, 1925.

7 W. Bogoraz, "The Folklore of Northeastern Siberia," American Anthropo logist, n.s., vol. 4, 1902, pp. 581-583.

8 W. Bogoraz, "K psikhologii shamanstva u narodov severovostočnoj Azii," Etnografičeskoe Obozrenie, 1910, No. 1-2, p. 21.

9 Bogoraz, "Chukchee Mythology," AMNH, Memoirs, vol. VIII, 1913. Tales no. 2-3.

10 Ibid., "Creation Tales," no. 1, second version.

11 Bogoraz, K psikhologii shamanstva, pp. 1, 19.

12 L. Krader, "Buryat Religion and Society," Southwestern Journal of Anthro pology, vol. 10, 1954, pp. 322-351.

13 The demographic history of the peoples in question follows. The retention of the traditional language is here considered to be the index of the strength of the cultural tradition in general. The Chukchis of today are cognizant of the name Chukchi as that of their society and culture, Koryaks of Koryak, and so forth; the material culture has changed profoundly with the introduction of metal utensils and weapons; literacy programs have been introduced; hunting and reindeer breeding continue to be practiced as the mainstays of life; products of the economy are marketed in the Soviet Union.

Chukchis underwent a population decrease from 1926 to 1959 of 5 per cent, which is not severe compared to that of Koryak, Eskimo, Kamchadal. In 1959, they maintained a comparatively high proportion of the total population speak ing the respective native language.

14 W. Jochelson, "The Yukagir," AMNH, Memoirs, vol. IX, 1926. Ch. XIV.

15 Levi-Strauss, La Pensée Sauvage, 1962, pp. 26-32: bricolage.