Mellan åsikt och vittnesbörd : Amerika och Västerlandets arkaiska rötter
(2004) In Ugglan. Mineravserien 3.- Abstract
- The question of America’s cultural position in relation to the rest of the world is essential for all research connected to America and to the history of modern Europe. This situation has become obvious over the last years because of our societies’ latest “crisis”, with the consecration of the “post-modern” and “global” view of society, history and culture. The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the relation between an archaic and a modern world view during the fifteen-century. The term “archaic” not viewed as a synonym of “antique”. “Antique” often implies a period of time far from today. I use the term “archaic”, implying a world view, a cosmology, which can be found within any period. Archaic is a way of thinking history; a way of... (More)
- The question of America’s cultural position in relation to the rest of the world is essential for all research connected to America and to the history of modern Europe. This situation has become obvious over the last years because of our societies’ latest “crisis”, with the consecration of the “post-modern” and “global” view of society, history and culture. The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the relation between an archaic and a modern world view during the fifteen-century. The term “archaic” not viewed as a synonym of “antique”. “Antique” often implies a period of time far from today. I use the term “archaic”, implying a world view, a cosmology, which can be found within any period. Archaic is a way of thinking history; a way of understanding the world and a way of developing identity relations. This interpretation of the relation between the archaic and the modern, lead my argumentation to the conclusion that these different world views must be based on different structures of reason, and that fluctuations between the two structures of reasoning ought to have created a “history of reason”. One of the central conclusions of this thesis is that modernity and archaism develop, disappear and develop again within each act of communication. I also discuss the problem of how the archaic communicates with the modern. How can cultural exchange happen when the cultural conditions are so different? I introduce the idea of cultural influence as a kind of “contagion”. Cultural influence is considered active already at a micro-level via every form of contact. I assume that people can assimilate foreign cultural products even when these products appear in a vague form or unclear presentation. My second assumption is that a culture can assimilate as much as it can give away. I call this assumption the principle of proportional cultural exchange.
I found an important starting point in Marcel Mauss’ The Gift and in Lévi-Strauss’ developments of Mauss’ ideas. The work of Lévi-Strauss, includes an illuminating presentation of ideas about delimitation of borders between archaic and modern worldviews. The work of Lévi-Strauss provides an obligatory reference for all studies of the relation between archaic and modern rationality. The one hundred and fifty year old ideas of archaic society of Marx and Engels are then discussed. I especially found the ideas of “communism” and “property” confusing. However, Marx’ study of the “Asiatic production’s system” can yet today illustrate the socio-economical situation of Mexico in the times of the conquest. At the same time, the views of Morgan, Marx and Engels show themselves to be strongly influenced by the traditional mythical ideas about “primitive” societies inherited from Thomas More, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Montaigne, Andreae and Campanella. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Frågan om Amerikas kulturella ställning i förhållande till den övriga världen är av central betydelse för all forskning som berör Amerikas och det moderna Europas historia. Det här förhållandet har blivit påtagligare under senare tid beroende av vårt samhälles senare "kris" med det s. k. "postmoderna" - och "globaliserade" - perspektivets genombrott. I avhandlingen presenteras det problematiska förhållandet mellan en arkaisk amerikansk och en modern europeisk världsåskådning under 1500-och 1600-talet. Arkaiskt betraktas inte som synonymt med "antikt". Den "antika" tidsåldern ligger kronologiskt sett långt ifrån nuet. Med "arkaisk" menas däremot en världssyn, en kosmologi, som kan ingå i varje... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Frågan om Amerikas kulturella ställning i förhållande till den övriga världen är av central betydelse för all forskning som berör Amerikas och det moderna Europas historia. Det här förhållandet har blivit påtagligare under senare tid beroende av vårt samhälles senare "kris" med det s. k. "postmoderna" - och "globaliserade" - perspektivets genombrott. I avhandlingen presenteras det problematiska förhållandet mellan en arkaisk amerikansk och en modern europeisk världsåskådning under 1500-och 1600-talet. Arkaiskt betraktas inte som synonymt med "antikt". Den "antika" tidsåldern ligger kronologiskt sett långt ifrån nuet. Med "arkaisk" menas däremot en världssyn, en kosmologi, som kan ingå i varje tidsålder. Det arkaiska är ett sätt att tänka, att uppleva världen och att utveckla identitetsrelationer. En av avhandlingens huvudteser är att modernitet och arkaism skapas, förintas och återskapas i varje kommunikativ akt snarare än vid en viss tidpunkt i en kronologisk serie. I introduktionen diskuteras även problemet hur det arkaiska kommunicerar med det moderna. Hur kan ett kulturellt utbyte ske när de kulturella villkoren är så olikartade? Jag presenterar först idén om kulturell påverkan som en form av "smitta". En kulturell påverkan betraktas som aktiv redan på ett mikroplan genom varje form av kontakt. Jag utgår här från ett antagande enligt vilken människorna kan "ta till sig" främmande kulturella produkter, även i de fall dessa har en vag och otydlig form. I en andra arbetshypotes antar jag att en kultur tar till sig lika mycket som den ger ifrån sig. Jag kallar denna hypotes för principen om proportionellt kulturellt utbyte.
En viktig utgångspunkt finner jag i Marcel Mauss Gåvan och i de vidareutvecklingar som Lévi-Strauss gör av Mauss idéer. Lévi-Strauss verk är en obligatorisk utgångspunkt för den studerar förhållandena mellan arkaiska och moderna samhällen. Vidare diskuteras Marx och Engels syn på det arkaiska samhället och giltigheten i deras nu hundrafemtio år gamla uppfattning. Särskilt missvisande finner jag deras tolkning av begreppen "kommunism" och "egendom" i sådana samhällen. Men Marx resonemang angående det asiatiska produktionssättet kan fortfarande belysa den socioekonomiska situationen i det mexikanska samhället före européernas ankomst. Samtidigt visar sig Morgans, Marx och Engels syn på det arkaiska samhället vara tydligt påverkad av traditionella mytiska föreställningar representerade av bland andra Thomas More, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Michel de Montaigne, Johan Valentin Andreae och Tommaso Campanella. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/20132
- author
- Flores, Fernando LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2004
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- History of philosophy, förnuftets historia, kommunikativa modeller, arkaisk, modern, 1500-talet, Västerlandet, Amerika, Europa, history of ideas, Filosofins historia, idéhistoria, History, Historia
- in
- Ugglan. Mineravserien
- volume
- 3
- edition
- 2
- pages
- 360 pages
- publisher
- Avd. för idé- och lärdomshistoria, Lunds universitet
- ISSN
- 1650-7339
- ISBN
- 91-974153-2-4
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The dissertation was published 2001, ISBN: 9197415324.
- id
- 5016dfd4-315d-46ee-aec4-6596f22339ce (old id 20132)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 15:57:24
- date last changed
- 2020-05-15 14:42:40
@book{5016dfd4-315d-46ee-aec4-6596f22339ce,
abstract = {{The question of America’s cultural position in relation to the rest of the world is essential for all research connected to America and to the history of modern Europe. This situation has become obvious over the last years because of our societies’ latest “crisis”, with the consecration of the “post-modern” and “global” view of society, history and culture. The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the relation between an archaic and a modern world view during the fifteen-century. The term “archaic” not viewed as a synonym of “antique”. “Antique” often implies a period of time far from today. I use the term “archaic”, implying a world view, a cosmology, which can be found within any period. Archaic is a way of thinking history; a way of understanding the world and a way of developing identity relations. This interpretation of the relation between the archaic and the modern, lead my argumentation to the conclusion that these different world views must be based on different structures of reason, and that fluctuations between the two structures of reasoning ought to have created a “history of reason”. One of the central conclusions of this thesis is that modernity and archaism develop, disappear and develop again within each act of communication. I also discuss the problem of how the archaic communicates with the modern. How can cultural exchange happen when the cultural conditions are so different? I introduce the idea of cultural influence as a kind of “contagion”. Cultural influence is considered active already at a micro-level via every form of contact. I assume that people can assimilate foreign cultural products even when these products appear in a vague form or unclear presentation. My second assumption is that a culture can assimilate as much as it can give away. I call this assumption the principle of proportional cultural exchange.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
I found an important starting point in Marcel Mauss’ The Gift and in Lévi-Strauss’ developments of Mauss’ ideas. The work of Lévi-Strauss, includes an illuminating presentation of ideas about delimitation of borders between archaic and modern worldviews. The work of Lévi-Strauss provides an obligatory reference for all studies of the relation between archaic and modern rationality. The one hundred and fifty year old ideas of archaic society of Marx and Engels are then discussed. I especially found the ideas of “communism” and “property” confusing. However, Marx’ study of the “Asiatic production’s system” can yet today illustrate the socio-economical situation of Mexico in the times of the conquest. At the same time, the views of Morgan, Marx and Engels show themselves to be strongly influenced by the traditional mythical ideas about “primitive” societies inherited from Thomas More, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Montaigne, Andreae and Campanella.}},
author = {{Flores, Fernando}},
isbn = {{91-974153-2-4}},
issn = {{1650-7339}},
keywords = {{History of philosophy; förnuftets historia; kommunikativa modeller; arkaisk; modern; 1500-talet; Västerlandet; Amerika; Europa; history of ideas; Filosofins historia; idéhistoria; History; Historia}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Avd. för idé- och lärdomshistoria, Lunds universitet}},
series = {{Ugglan. Mineravserien}},
title = {{Mellan åsikt och vittnesbörd : Amerika och Västerlandets arkaiska rötter}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/79602894/Mellan_A_sikt_och_Vittnesbo_rd.pdf}},
volume = {{3}},
year = {{2004}},
}