Anthropology

Indice del capitolo: 1. introduzione; 2. primo sguardo alla bibliografia e punti fermi; 3. la "negazione simbolica" al fondo della strategia anti-gender; 4. il gender come sfida antropologica per la teologia cattolica; 5. teologia del maschile e del femminile, mistero nuziale; 6. unità duale; 7. complementarietà e reciprocità asimmetrica; 8. una caro, fenomenologia dei gesti, integrazione; 9. una teologia inclusiva per un'antropologia adeguata; 10. matrimonio, verginità, relazione pura; 11. note sulla teologia trinitaria della famiglia; 12. antropologia trinitaria; 13. conclusione.

The study of cultural evolution has taken on an increasingly interdisciplinary and diverse approach in explicating phenomena of cultural transmission and adoptions. Inspired by this computational movement, this study uses Bayesian networks analysis, combining both the frequentist and the Hamiltonian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach, to investigate the highly representative elements in the cultural evolution of a Vietnamese city’s architecture in the early 20th century. With a focus on the façade design of 68 old houses in Hanoi’s Old Quarter (...) (based on 78 data lines extracted from 248 photos), the study argues that it is plausible to look at the aesthetics, architecture, and designs of the house façade to find traces of cultural evolution in Vietnam, which went through more than six decades of French colonization and centuries of sociocultural influence from China. The in-depth technical analysis, though refuting the presumed model on the probabilistic dependency among the variables, yields several results, the most notable of which is the strong influence of Buddhism over the decorations of the house façade. Particularly, in the top 5 networks with the best Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) scores and p<0.05, the variable for decorations (DC) always has a direct probabilistic dependency on the variable B for Buddhism. The paper then checks the robustness of these models using Hamiltonian MCMC method and find the posterior distributions of the models’ coefficients all satisfy the technical requirement. Finally, this study suggests integrating Bayesian statistics in the social sciences in general and for the study of cultural evolution and architectural transformation in particular. (shrink)

Though this volume is a bit dated, there are few recent popular books dealing specifically with the psychology of murder and it’s a quick overview available for a few dollars, so still well worth the effort. It makes no attempt to be comprehensive and is somewhat superficial in places, with the reader expected to fill in the blanks from his many other books and the vast literature on violence. For an update see e.g., Buss, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology 2nd (...) ed. V1 (2016) p 265, 266, 270–282, 388–389, 545–546, 547, 566 and Buss, Evolutionary Psychology 5th ed. (2015) p 26, 96–97,223, 293-4, 300, 309–312, 410 and Shackelford and Hansen, The Evolution of Violence (2014). He has been among the top evolutionary psychologists for several decades and covers a wide range of behavior in his works, but here he concentrates almost entirely on the psychological mechanisms that cause individual people to murder and their possible evolutionary function in the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation—i.e., the plains of Africa during the last million years or so). -/- Buss starts by noting that as with other behaviors, ‘alternative’ explanations such as psychopathology, jealousy, social environment, group pressures, drugs and alcohol etc. do not really explain, since the question still remains as to why these produce homicidal impulses, i.e., they are the proximate causes and not the ultimate evolutionary (genetic) ones. As always, it inevitably boils down to inclusive fitness (kin selection), and so to the struggle for access to mates and resources, which is the ultimate explanation for all behavior in all organisms. Sociological data (and common sense) make it clear that younger poorer males are the most likely to kill. He presents his own and others homicide data from industrialized nations, and tribal cultures, conspecific killing in animals, archeology, FBI data and his own research into normal people's homicidal fantasies. Much archeological evidence continues to accumulate of murders, including that of whole groups, or of groups minus young females, in prehistoric times. -/- After surveying Buss’s comments, I present a very brief summary of intentional psychology (the logical structure of rationality), which is covered extensively in my many other articles and books. -/- Those with a lot of time who want a detailed history of homicidal violence from an evolutionary perspective may consult Steven Pinker’s ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature Why Violence Has Declined’(2012), and my review of it, easily available on the net and in two of my recent books. Briefly, Pinker notes that murder has decreased steadily and dramatically by a factor of about 30 since our days as foragers. So, even though guns now make it extremely easy for anyone to kill, homicide is much less common. Pinker thinks this is due to various social mechanisms that bring out our ‘better angels’, but I think it’s due mainly to the temporary abundance of resources from the merciless rape of our planet, coupled with increased police presence, with communication and surveillance and legal systems that make it far more likely to be punished. This becomes clear every time there is even a brief and local absence of the police. -/- Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems view may consult my book ‘The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle’ 2nd ed (2019). Those interested in more of my writings may see ‘Talking Monkeys--Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet--Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Human Behavior (2019), and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019) . (shrink)

La superación del racionalismo y del relativismo no ha podido gestarse con fecundidad. Posiblemente porque el absolutismo racionalista -que salva la razón a costa de anular la vida- y el relativismo -que salva la vida negando la razón- se han desplazado en una dimensión única que imposibilitaba la insumisión a ese dilema vertebrado por una concepción absolutista de la verdad y que nos constriñe a instalarnos en alguno de sus términos. La constante aparición del nexo entre los problemas antropológicos más (...) relevantes y la crítica de la metafísica exigen que la postmodernidad sea reubicada en un contexto que supere su inserción en un escenario que tengan por trasfondo únicamente a la modernidad. En otras palabras, hay una necesidad de trascender el binomio modernidad-postmodernidad. De esta manera, se considera que la tradición realista debe aparecer en escena en abierto diálogo crítico con los posicionamientos cronológicamente posteriores. Por lo que se refiere a la estructura de la presente obra hay que decir que sus once capítulos se distribuyen en tres partes. La primera de ellas intenta desentrañar y ordenar los elementos que generan el estado de cierta postración en el que se halla el pensamiento crítico-especulativo. En la segunda parte se procede a recorrer cada una de las derivaciones más relevantes de la desconfianza de la razón hacia sí misma. Por último, la tercera parte intenta poner de manifiesto qué posibilidades quedan al pensamiento de la constitución de lo nuevo tanto en el ámbito filosófico como en el pedagógico. Los modernos creyeron que al ser humano cabe forjarlo por el poder de la razón; los postmodernos estiman que no debe hacerse. ¿Es sólo por casualidad que hay una coincidencia fundamental entre ambas perspectivas? En el fondo, uno y otro convienen que la razón lo puede todo; modernos y postmodernos coinciden en la creencia del poder ilimitado de la razón y, como consecuencia de ello, creen en la posibilidad de la ilimitada y absoluta transformación de la totalidad de lo real. Y ello, aunque lo hagan en sentido diverso y lo valoren de manera inversa. Cabe, pues, pensar que, en el fondo, no hay más que una remodelación monótona de lo mismo. Las repercusiones del nihilismo, del relativismo moral, de la crisis antropológica postmoderna, de los nacionalismos identitarios, del pluralismo religioso, de la política democrática y de los tópicos del relativismo cultural son, pues, abordados –y enhebrados- en la Crítica de la razón moderna. Por ello, esta obra supone una seria y muy completa contribución al esclarecimiento de la vertebración del pensamiento y las prácticas culturales vigentes. Además, es una obra imprescindible en la biblioteca de profesores y de estudiantes de las facultades de Educación, Filosofía, Historia, Teología, Ciencias Políticas y Sociología. Y también resulta relevante para todas aquellas personas que se afanan por comprender los fundamentos teóricos de las perspectivas sociales y humanísticas actuales así como sus derivaciones y praxis concretas. (shrink)

В этой статье мы утверждаем, что философия символических форм Эрнста Кассирера является незаменимым философско-антропологическим партнером риторики. Мы предполагаем, что освоение риторикой теории символических форм Кассирера позволит вывести риторику за пределы её доминирующей трактовки как теории, ориентированной на языковое выражение, и позволит ей полностью соответствовать широкому пониманию риторики как учения о том, каким образом создаётся, утверждается и изменяется социальное значение. Чтобы сделать наше расширенное понимание риторико-философско-антропологического подхода более ясным, мы построили наше рассуждение частично на критике недавней попытки Томаса А. Дишенны (Discenna, (...) Rhetorica 32/3, 2014) включить Кассирера в риторическую традицию в ходе анализа давосских дебатов между Кассирером и М. Хайдеггером 1929 года; и частично на разъяснении тех аспектов мысли Кассирера, которые мы считаем наиболее важными для развития риторико-философской антропологии социального значения. Основным выводом проведенного исследования является тезис о том, что философия символических форм Кассирера создает теоретические основы современной риторической философской антропологии как учения о формировании социального значения. (shrink)

El problema del acceso al conocimiento suele inscribirse en los estrechos márgenes de lo metodológico. Sin embargo, dicha cuestión excede los límites de la pura practicidad y eficiencia. La posibilidad de saber exige una indagación que trascienda la pura epidermis del supuesto de un cúmulo de conocimientos dados y al alcance de todos. Dicha posibilidad es mucho más que la distancia que media entre el sujeto dispuesto a conocer y los contenidos a asimilar. El acceso al saber implica, además, una (...) mirada a la realidad sin la cual el contenido asimilable se desnaturaliza como nutriente espiritual. Por consiguiente, resulta pertinente indagar qué miradas de la realidad son las que sirven de sustento a la diversidad de los concretos accesos a los múltiples saberes. Tal es el núcleo vertebrador que recorre esta obra. Fundamentos, contextos y metodologías de la educación resulta así un subtítulo que pretende especificar el objeto de estudio de El acceso al conocimiento. Se trata tanto de una exposición objetiva como de una dilucidación comprometida, dirigidas ambas al corazón de los procesos formativos vigentes. Cada uno de los veintidós capítulos que componen El acceso al conocimiento ha sido expuesto por separado y públicamente en el seno de diversos Congresos Internacionales. Por tanto, cada uno de ellos ha sido sometido a debate en sesiones congresuales que abarcan seis años: desde el 2000 hasta el 2006. La compilación que aquí se presenta –y en la que se han mantenido las diversas modalidades de cita bibliográfica- tiene, pues, el valor añadido de intentar propiciar nuevos diálogos y renovadas reflexiones. (shrink)

Nuestro tiempo debe ser expresado en las palabras de siempre. Limitarse a rasguear la contemporaneidad induce a creer que los nuevos tiempos no se nutren más que de sí mismos y que, por ello, devienen a través de concatenaciones originales. Pero no es así. No siempre resulta tan sugerente. Cuando el pasado histórico deja de ser percibido como lastre para pasar a ser contemplado como irrenunciable posibilidad de radicación, entonces puede decirse que se ha tomado conciencia de la primera grada (...) que podría llevar tanto a un esfuerzo por desentrañar e identificar lo medular de determinado período histórico como a la valentía de expresarlo al margen de pueriles afectos. Como no podía ser de otro modo, la presente obra contiene un diagnóstico del momento cultural presente. No basta con pesar, contar y medir. Porque las promesas suelen habitar en los mismos lugares que las amenazas, una pedagogía inhóspita caracterizada por ser una pura técnica de aplicación externa e incentivo sin alma –aunque, por ello, nada desideologizada- deja inermes tanto al teórico como al educando que, decepcionado, termina obrando como mero instrumento. Es difícil aceptar que sólo puede realizarse la necropsia de lo valioso en sí, que sólo queda el infierno. Por tanto, es un deber buscar razones para la resistencia y razones para educar en la beligerancia. Las herencias disimuladas, las herencias rechazadas, las herencias soportadas y las herencias pretendidas nos hablan de la semilla más que del despojo. Ciertamente, todas ellas permiten divisar la subjetiva búsqueda de lo mejor; con todo, hay que decir que ninguna puede escamotear la fabricación de lo objetivamente conveniente. De todas formas, falsear la Historia puede implicar que lo potencialmente recuperable o restaurable, por valioso, tenga posibilidades de salir indemne; podrá sobrevivir al quedar sepultado transitoriamente tras los escombros de lo otro de sí. La repatriación es la esperanza del forzado a la expatriación. La presente obra tuvo su origen en la preocupación por dar una respuesta al problema del porvenir de la educación y de la Pedagogía, es decir, al tema de la reconfiguración de éstas en un futuro no muy lejano. Ello llevó, de inmediato, a la exigencia de analizar críticamente el presente tanto desde el punto de vista de los posicionamientos discursivos dominantes más relacionados con la filosofía de la educación como desde la perspectiva de su propio devenir histórico. La constante aparición del nexo entre los problemas antropológicos más relevantes y la crítica de la metafísica exigió que la postmodernidad fuese reubicada en un contexto que superara su inserción en un escenario que tuviese por trasfondo únicamente a la modernidad. En otras palabras, fue apareciendo la necesidad de trascender el binarismo modernidad-postmodernidad. De esta manera, se consideró que la tradición realista –o, vagamente, premodernidad- debía aparecer en escena en abierto diálogo crítico con los posicionamientos cronológicamente posteriores. Expresar nuestro tiempo en las palabras de siempre supone la intención de apresar las constantes históricas sin perder de vista el dinamismo propio del presente. Análisis y perspectivas filosóficas, epistemológicas e históricas de la contemporaneidad desde un discurso crítico-pedagógico indica una dirección y una ubicación. Si unos pocos capítulos como los que siguen atrapan algo de la compleja realidad me daré por satisfecho. (shrink)

El territorio de la educación resulta inestable. Adentrarse especulativamente en él requiere perspectivas desde las que otear el horizonte. Sin embargo, pronto se toma conciencia de que tanto dicho confín como tales miradores se presentan nebulosos. No sólo resulta problemático dar una definición de educación; también lo es el articular los medios conducentes a las finalidades educacionales propuestas. A pesar de ello, se procede a educar incesantemente, lo que prueba la necesidad del acto educativo y, por tanto, la de su (...) dilucidación. Tanto el esfuerzo por tratar de comprender los cambios presentes como el empeño por descifrar las implicaciones éticas e ideológicas que encierra cada propuesta de intervención educativa resultan insoslayables. Sin embargo, hay que decir que ni tal esfuerzo ni tal empeño pueden llegar a vaticinar cómo llegará alguien a amar el aprendizaje ni tampoco de qué forma se aprende a amar el conocimiento o el trabajo bien realizado. ¿Cuál es el procedimiento? ¿Cuál ha de ser el trazado? La diversidad de respuestas a estas cuestiones nos muestra que la persona del educando alberga siempre la posibilidad de sorprendernos. (shrink)

Elementos de Teoría de la Educación se presenta como una obra de síntesis de aquellos aspectos que, dentro del ámbito de la Teoría de la Educación, resultan fundamentales para los estudiantes universitarios preocupados por la educación en todas sus vertientes. Destinada, pues, a prestar un servicio teórico en cuanto a la exposición y clarificación de posiciones filosóficas y pedagógicas perennes -sin dejar por ello de realizar incursiones tanto históricas como culturales-, se estructura de tal modo que puede servir también como (...) guía orientativa y facilitadora que aliente posteriores desarrollos. Estructurada en dos partes bien diferenciadas -Problematizaciones: exigencias y finalidades pedagógicas y, en segundo lugar, Esquemas temáticos-, la presente obra cuenta con la ventaja de introducir en la primera de ellas cuestiones globales que, en la segunda, son retomadas en núcleos temáticos, esto es, con una inserción concreta y muy determinada. Con ello se pretende no sólo guiar al alumno a través de la temática teórico-educativa sino, también, incentivar la lectura activa. Sólo resta desear que los contenidos y la estructuración que aquí se ofrecen respondan tanto a los importantes anhelos de los estudiantes de Educación como a las considerables necesidades formativas que la sociedad les demanda. (shrink)

This collection of articles was written over the last 10 years and edited to bring them up to date (2019). All the articles are about human behavior (as are all articles by anyone about anything), and so about the limitations of having a recent monkey ancestry (8 million years or much less depending on viewpoint) and manifest words and deeds within the framework of our innate psychology as presented in the table of intentionality. As famous evolutionist Richard Leakey says, it (...) is critical to keep in mind not that we evolved from apes, but that in every important way, we are apes. If everyone was given a real understanding of this (i.e., of human ecology and psychology to actually give them some control over themselves), maybe civilization would have a chance. As things are however the leaders of society have no more grasp of things than their constituents and so collapse into anarchy is inevitable. -/- The first group of articles attempt to give some insight into how we behave that is reasonably free of theoretical delusions. In the next three groups, I comment on three of the principal delusions preventing a sustainable world— technology, religion and politics (cooperative groups). People believe that society can be saved by them, so I provide some suggestions in the rest of the book as to why this is unlikely via short articles and reviews of recent books by well-known writers. -/- It is critical to understand why we behave as we do and so the first section presents articles that try to describe (not explain as Wittgenstein insisted) behavior. I start with a brief review of the logical structure of rationality, which provides some heuristics for the description of language (mind, rationality, personality) and gives some suggestions as to how this relates to the evolution of social behavior. This centers around the two writers I have found the most important in this regard, Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle, whose ideas I combine and extend within the dual system (two systems of thought) framework that has proven so useful in recent thinking and reasoning research. As I note, there is in my view essentially complete overlap between philosophy, in the strict sense of the enduring questions that concern the academic discipline, and the descriptive psychology of higher order thought (behavior). Once one has grasped Wittgenstein’s insight that there is only the issue of how the language game is to be played, one determines the Conditions of Satisfaction (what makes a statement true or satisfied etc.) and that is the end of the discussion. No neurophysiology, no metaphysics, no postmodernism, no theology. -/- It is my contention that the table of intentionality (rationality, mind, thought, language, personality etc.) that features prominently here describes more or less accurately, or at least serves as an heuristic for, how we think and behave, and so it encompasses not merely philosophy and psychology, but everything else (history, literature, mathematics, politics etc.). Note especially that intentionality and rationality as I (along with Searle, Wittgenstein and others) view it, includes both conscious deliberative System 2 and unconscious automated System 1 actions or reflexes. -/- The next section describes the digital delusions, which confuse the language games of System 2 with the automatisms of System one, and so cannot distinguish biological machines (i.e., people) from other kinds of machines (i.e., computers). The ‘reductionist’ claim is that one can ‘explain’ behavior at a ‘lower’ level, but what actually happens is that one does not explain human behavior but a ‘stand in’ for it. Hence the title of Searle’s classic review of Dennett’s book (“Consciousness Explained”)— “Consciousness Explained Away”. In most contexts ‘reduction’ of higher level emergent behavior to brain functions, biochemistry, or physics is incoherent. Even for ‘reduction’ of chemistry or physics, the path is blocked by chaos and uncertainty. Anything can be ‘represented’ by equations, but when they ‘represent’ higher order behavior, it is not clear (and cannot be made clear) what the ‘results’ mean. Reductionist metaphysics is a joke, but most scientists and philosophers lack the appropriate sense of humor. -/- The last section describes The One Big Happy Family Delusion, i.e., that we are selected for cooperation with everyone, and that the euphonious ideals of Democracy, Diversity and Equality will lead us into utopia, if we just manage things correctly (the possibility of politics). Again, the No Free Lunch Principle ought to warn us it cannot be true, and we see throughout history and all over the contemporary world, that without strict controls, selfishness and stupidity gain the upper hand and soon destroy any nation that embraces these delusions. In addition, the monkey mind steeply discounts the future, and so we cooperate in selling our descendant’s heritage for temporary comforts, greatly exacerbating the problems. The only major change in this edition is the addition in the last article of a short discussion of China, a threat to peace and freedom as great as overpopulation and climate change and one to which even most professional scholars and politicians are oblivious so I regarded it as sufficiently important to warrant a new edition. -/- I describe versions of this delusion (i.e., that we are basically ‘friendly’ if just given a chance) as it appears in some recent books on sociology/biology/economics. Even Sapolsky’s otherwise excellent “Behave”(2017) embraces leftist politics and group selection and gives space to a discussion of whether humans are innately violent. I end with an essay on the great tragedy playing out in America and the world, which can be seen as a direct result of our evolved psychology manifested as the inexorable machinations of System 1. Our psychology, eminently adaptive and eugenic on the plains of Africa from ca. 6 million years ago, when we split from chimpanzees, to ca. 50,000 years ago, when many of our ancestors left Africa (i.e., in the EEA or Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation), is now maladaptive and dysgenic and the source of our Suicidal Utopian Delusions. So, like all discussions of behavior (philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, anthropology, politics, law, literature, history, economics, soccer strategies, business meetings, etc.), this book is about evolutionary strategies, selfish genes and inclusive fitness (kin selection, natural selection). -/- The great mystic Osho said that the separation of God and Heaven from Earth and Humankind was the most evil idea that ever entered the Human mind. In the 20th century an even more evil notion arose, or at least became popular with leftists—that humans are born with rights, rather than having to earn privileges. The idea of human rights is an evil fantasy created by leftists to draw attention away from the merciless destruction of the earth by unrestrained 3rd world motherhood. Thus, every day the population increases by 200,000, who must be provided with resources to grow and space to live, and who soon produce another 200,000 etc. And one almost never hears it noted that what they receive must be taken from those already alive, and their descendants. Their lives diminish those already here in both major obvious and countless subtle ways. Every new baby destroys the earth from the moment of conception. In a horrifically overcrowded world with vanishing resources, there cannot be human rights without destroying the earth and our descendant’s futures. It could not be more obvious, but it is rarely mentioned in a clear and direct way, and one will never see the streets full of protesters against motherhood. -/- The most basic facts, almost never mentioned, are that there are not enough resources in America or the world to lift a significant percentage of the poor out of poverty and keep them there. Even the attempt to do this is already bankrupting America and destroying the world. The earth’s capacity to produce food decreases daily, as does our genetic quality. And now, as always, by far the greatest enemy of the poor is other poor and not the rich. -/- America and the world are in the process of collapse from excessive population growth, most of it for the last century, and now all of it, due to 3rd world people. Consumption of resources and the addition of 4 billion more ca. 2100 will collapse industrial civilization and bring about starvation, disease, violence and war on a staggering scale. The earth loses about 2% of its topsoil every year, so as it nears 2100, most of its food growing capacity will be gone. Billions will die and nuclear war is all but certain. In America, this is being hugely accelerated by massive immigration and immigrant reproduction, combined with abuses made possible by democracy. Depraved human nature inexorably turns the dream of democracy and diversity into a nightmare of crime and poverty. China will continue to overwhelm America and the world, as long as it maintains the dictatorship which limits selfishness. The root cause of collapse is the inability of our innate psychology to adapt to the modern world, which leads people to treat unrelated persons as though they had common interests (which I suggest may be regarded as an unrecognized -- but the commonest and most serious-- psychological problem -- Inclusive Fitness Disorder). This, plus ignorance of basic biology and psychology, leads to the social engineering delusions of the partially educated who control democratic societies. Few understand that if you help one person you harm someone else—there is no free lunch and every single item anyone consumes destroys the earth beyond repair. Consequently, social policies everywhere are unsustainable and one by one all societies without stringent controls on selfishness will collapse into anarchy or dictatorship. Without dramatic and immediate changes, there is no hope for preventing the collapse of America, or any country that follows a democratic system. Hence my concluding essay “Suicide by Democracy”. -/- Those wishing to read my other writings may see Talking Monkeys 2nd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle 2nd ed (2019), Suicide by Democracy 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Stucture of Human Behavior (2019) and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019) . (shrink)

There is more than one ‘hard problem'. Just as it is hard for consciousness to grasp itself, it is also hard to examine your own society from the ‘outside'. The same problem applies to scientific paradigms , our taken-for-granted assumptions generally, and the collective representations that sustain them -- such as soup spoons and scientific conferences . To get an ‘outside’ view of ‘Tucson III', I asked my friend Tjiniman, who is a stone-age hunter, to help me out. He is (...) studying anthropology part-time, though he does not believe everything he is told, and prefers to retain his traditional world-view. The following account is mainly his, with a few suggestions from me. (shrink)

Physical anthropologist Grover Krantz spent his career arguing that the anomalous North American primate called Sasquatch was a living animal. He attempted to prove the creature's existence by applying to the problem the techniques of physical anthropology: methodologies and theoretical models that were outside the experience of the amateur enthusiasts who dominated the field of anomalous primate studies. For his efforts, he was dismissed or ignored by academics who viewed the Sasquatch, also commonly called Bigfoot, as at best a relic (...) of folklore and at worst a hoax, and Krantz's project as having dubious value. Krantz also received a negative reaction from amateur Sasquatch researchers, some of whom threatened and abused him. His career is best situated therefore as part of the discussion about the historical relationship between amateur naturalists and professional scientists. The literature on this relationship articulates a combining/displacement process: when a knowledge domain that has potential for contributions to science is created by amateurs, it will eventually combine with and then be taken over by professionals, with the result that amateur leadership is displaced. This paper contributes to that discussion by showing the process at work in Krantz's failed attempt to legitimize Bigfoot research by removing it from the amateur sphere and repositioning it in the professional world of anthropology. (shrink)

Статья посвящена выявлению оснований доксологии Матса Розенгрена – шведского философа, который пытается реабилитировать доксу в теории познания и рассматривает возможность построения «протагорейской гносеологии». Доксология – это вариант натурализованной конструктивистской теории познания, развивающийся на базе риторической версии философской антропологии, где формулируется реалистичная версия субъекта познавательной деятельности. Познание, с точки зрения доксологии, – это преобразование человеческими коллективами мира и себя, предпосылкой которого является освоение объективированных результатов своей предшествующей деятельности. В ходе исследования использованы методы интерпретации и критический метод философии с опорой на принципы (...) историзма, непротиворечивости и системности рассмотрения. Показано, что выражением доксологической позиции и доксологического стиля мышления является неософистическая трактовка тезиса Протагора о человекомерности. Согласно этой трактовке, человек – это человечество, а не индивид; мерой, общей для всех людей, является логос, который формирует природу человека и мира в целом. В основе доксологической трактовки познавательной деятельности лежит схема функционального круга логоса и доксы. Содержательные предпосылки доксологического стиля мышления Розенгрен находит в работах П. Бурдьё, Л. Флека, Э. Кассирера, К. Касториадиса, в которых продемонстрировано, как фактически способы восприятия, мышления и действия, и способы производства, объективации и освоения опыта человеческих коллективов могут взаимозависимо конструировать друг друга. (shrink)

This is a 2018 revision of my 1988 dissertation "The Choreography of the Soul" with a new Forward, a new Conclusion, a substantially revised Preface and Introduction, and many improvements to the body of the work. However, the thesis remains the same. A theory of consciousness and trance states--including psychedelic experience--is developed. Consciousness can be analyzed into two distinct but generally interrelated systems, which I call System X and System Y. System X is the emotional-visceral-kinaesthetic body. System X is a (...) harmonic system of "endokinetic" (internal bodily) and "ectokinetic" (emotionally expressive) movement. System Y is a "teleokinetic" (goal directed) system that includes language, cognition, perception, voluntary motor control, manipulation of the environment, etc. Contrary to theories of consciousness prevalent in the Western philosophical traditions that begin with Plato, I argue that System Y is secondary to and dependent upon System X, not the reverse. In building my thesis I draw upon the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, psychoanalysis, Jungian depth psychology, political anthropology, modern neuroscience, Pythagorean music theory, and the mathematical theory of harmonic systems. (shrink)

Contemporary challenges related to walls, borders and encirclement, such as migration, integration, and endemic historical conflicts, can only be understood properly from a long-term perspective. This book seeks to go beyond conventional definitions of the long duréeby locating the social practice of walling and encirclement in the broadest context of human history, integrating insights from archaeology and anthropology. Such an approach, far from being simply academic, has crucial contemporary relevance, as its focus on origins helps to locate the essential dynamics (...) of this practice, and provides a rare external position from which to view the phenomenon as a transformative exercise, with the area walled serving as an artificial womb or matrix. The modern world, with its ingrained ideas of borders, nation states and other entities, often makes it is very difficult to gain a critical distance and detachment to see beyond conventional perspectives. The unique approach of this book offers an antidote to this problem. Cases discussed in the book range from Palaeolithic caves, the ancient walls of Göbekli Tepe, Jericho, and Babylon, to the foundation of Rome, the Chinese Empire, medieval Europe and the Berlin Wall. The book also looks at contemporary developments such as the Palestinian wall, Eastern and Southern European examples, Trump's proposed Mexican wall, the use of Greece as a bulwark containing migration flows, and the transformative experience of voluntary work in a Calcutta hospice. In doing so, the book offers a political anthropology of one of the most fundamental yet perennially problematic human practices: the constructing of walls. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, and political theory. (shrink)

This paper aims at capturing a paradoxical situation of modern Romanian nationalism that is both a symptom and a consequence of the country’s post-communist “liquid” modernity: the tension between the essentialist and the constructionist discourses related to nationalism and ethnic identity. Approaching this topic can be an important endeavor not only for a better understanding of the condition of an eminently liminal geography in Europe’s late modernity (East/West, democracy/totalitarianism, tradition/modernity), but also for addressing two questions of major importance to political (...) anthropology: (1) which are the political consequences of exposing a certain community to the scientific discourse produced in the sphere of the social sciences about that very community? (2) how is it possible for modern national identity to be commodified and for citizenship to be contractualized? (shrink)

This is a review of Urlich Bröckling's book (2017) "Gute Hirten führen sanft. Über Menschenregierungskünste." (which can be roughly translated as: "Good shepherds lead gently. On the arts of governing humans") Bröckling's book collects new essays, as well as already elsewhere published works, which have been revised for this book. On 422 pages the author presents his sociology of governing humans through gouvernementality, which is a worth reading contribution to the governmentality studies. The book is divided into three main sections: (...) Approaches, Dispositives and Critique. In the first part, Bröckling presents his theoretical-methodological approach to topics such as "pastoral power", "governmentality", "anthropology" and the tasks of a "sociology of human gouvernementality-arts". In the second section, Bröckling presents eleven individual analyses on the topics of prevention, resilience, mediation, nudging, feedback, contract pedagogy, competition, burnout, planning, human capital and battlefield research, each of which can be read individually and do not build on oneanother. Finally, Bröckling explores the relationship between sociology and critique. His book can be read as a collection of follow-up studies on the neoliberal form of socialization which he dubbed the 'entrepreneurial self' (Bröckling 2007). He not only continues research in the field of governmentality studies, but also develops exciting theses about their limits and on governing through affects. (shrink)

Contemporary financial markets have recently witnessed a sea change with the ‘algorithmic revolution’, as trading automats are used to ease the execution sequences and reduce market impact. Being constantly monitored, they take an active part in the shaping of markets, and sometimes generate crises when ‘they mess up’ or when they entail situations where traders cannot go backwards. Algorithms are software codes coding practices in an IT significant ‘textual’ device, designed to replicate trading patterns. To be accepted, however, they need (...) to comply with regulatory texts, which are nothing else but codes of conduct coding accepted practices in the markets. In this article, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork in order to open these black boxes, while trying to describe their existence as devices encapsulating several points of views. I address the question of a possible misalignment between those visions, and more specifically try to draw the consequences raised by such discrepancies as regards the future of financial regulation. (shrink)

Contrary to chimpanzees and bonobos, humans display long-term exclusive relationships between males and females. Probably all human cultures have some kind of marriage system, apparently designed to protect these exclusive relationships and the resulting offspring in a potentially sexual competitive environment. Different hypotheses about the origin of human pair-bonds are compared and it is shown how they may refer to different phases of human evolution.

This paper discusses the diverse forms of contemporary Islam practised by the Kists, inhabitants of Georgia's Pankisi Gorge related to the Chechens. The newest wave of Salafi-inspired Islam among the young generation of Chechens, mostly men who have fought in the Chechen-Russian war, is aesthetically marked by a distinctive style of minaret and by a more public adhān than Pankisi has hitherto known. The reactions of local Kists to the aesthetics and morality of the new Islam, and the distinctions between (...) Salafi, Wahhabi, and Pankisi Islam are explored. It is argued that the new Islam is not as foreign to the Caucasus as scholarship tends to suggest. Ethnographies of minarets and headstones are followed by an exploration of reactions to Soviet secularism in the historiography of Chechen Islam. Positioning itself within recent scholarship aiming to overcome the constraints imposed by secular forms of knowledge in the study of Islamic societies, the paper seeks to locate the unique modes of Kist belief within the framework of a comparative, post-secular anthropology of Islam. (shrink)

A prominent feature of the contemporary society in the last couple of decades is the phenomenon of globalization. While globalization has brought immense benefits to Africa on the one hand, Africa’s entrance into and participation in the global scene has also precipitated a crisis of confusion and identity for Africa–a situation which is analogous to the effect of her encounter with colonialism, so that unless the dialectic of identity and difference that inevitably arises from this situation is constructively managed, it (...) will be difficult for Africa to make the best of the opportunities inherent in globalization. Given that no one can make the best of any opportunity for interaction with others unless one is clear about one’s identity and priorities, a major challenge Africa has to address in the context of globalization is the need to assume personal responsibility in defining her priorities and interests such as to allow these to inform her engagement with the various participants in the global world. More often than not, the Achilles heel of Africa is lack of clear focus in respect of her priorities as well as failure to allow her interests to drive her engagement with other participants in the global system. To reverse the situation of dependency which this mode of operation fosters, we argue that, Africa needs to relocate the locus of control internally and put in place a strong regime of internal democracy based on rule of law to tackle the menace of corruption and mismanagement that has undermined development initiatives since independence. (shrink)

A collaboration between Australian, French and Cambodian scholars is revealing the sprawling form of a ruined medieval metropolis through remote sensing technology, excavations and new theories. A clearer understanding of Angkor’s form and function may help contemporary planners and architects see the issues facing low-density cities of today and tomorrow. This article reviews the latest research on this vast metropolis in relation to contemporary urban planning concepts such as sprawl and low-density urbanism.

The goal of our article is to review the widespread anthropological figure, according to which we can achieve a better understanding of humans by contrasting them with animals. This originally Herderian approach was elaborated by Arnold Gehlen, who characterized humans as “deficient beings” who become complete through culture. According to Gehlen, humans, who are insufficiently equipped by instincts, indirectly stabilize their existence by creating institutions, i.e., complexes of habitual actions. On the other hand, Maurice Merleau-Ponty shows that corporeal relationship to (...) the world is already indirect because it is based on preestablished and readjusted “standards” or “norms” of interaction with the environment. Merleau-Ponty then calls these norms “institutions” and views culture as readjustment of institutions which operate already on the level of corporeal existence. The anthropological figure of confronting humans and animals thus cannot produce, as in Gehlen, a contrast between an allegedly “direct” relationship to the world in animals and a supposedly “indirect” relationship to the world in humans. The Herderian approach can be meaningfully retained only if interpreted as an invitation to confront the norms of indirect interaction with the world in animals and in people, that is, if viewed as a comparison of their respective institutions. (shrink)

This paper investigates the local implementation of Malaysian public GAP standard called MyGAP by examining its effectiveness in raising the awareness and improving the pesticide use practices of participant smallscale farmers toward better food safety and quality assurance. For this objective, 19 MyGAP certified and 57 uncertified durian farms in the state of Pahang, Malaysia were surveyed. The research found that certified farm managers have a much better understanding of the basic intent of the policy than uncertified farms, reflecting the (...) individually oriented interests and motivations of participant farmers in the national scheme. Their interests in and assessment of the merits of the scheme are found to concentrate in economic realms rather than in the original policy goal of food safety and quality assurance. As regards pesticide use practices, certified farms showed a much better performance than uncertified farms in record keeping and pesticide use and management. There remains a question, however, whether it is due to the farming practices improved through MyGAP adoption or due to the participation of farms already well-performing prior to MyGAP adoption. (shrink)

In the present interview, Jacob Rogozinski elucidates the main concepts and theses he developed in his latest book dedicated to the issue of modern jihadism. On this occasion, he explains his disagreements with other philosophical (Badiou, Baudrillard, Žižek) and anthropological (Girard) accounts of Islamic terrorism. Rogozinski also explains that although jihadism betrays Islam, it nonetheless has everything to do with Islam. Eventually, he describes his own philosophical journey which led him from a phenomenological study of the ego and the flesh (...) to the study of past (witch-hunts, French Reign of Terror) and contemporary (jihadism) terror apparatuses. (shrink)

This text lays out the purpose of the current issue on shifting borders and identities. It places this question in the context of the formation of macro-regional blocs and the end of bipolarization. It moves towards showing the repercussions of this context for the functioning of border zones and the identities they have fashioned over the long period of modern history. The article aims to reveal the emergence of the dogmatism of the religion of capital beneath the new faces of (...) a multifaceted anthropological culturalism. As a result of an unprecedented media exposure on a worldwide scale, this seems to be turning into the new model for understanding the great world events, which are being taken over by a number of political actors without any real discernment. One of the chief features of our collection of articles is that they highlight the fact that the contributing authors, while belonging to different schools of thought, have all tried to stand apart from them or at least show they have limits. To conclude, in taking its inspiration from the work of Jacques Derrida, this article would like to provide some keys to reading and understanding. (shrink)

Philosophy has always shown concern about human interests in their study of knowledge. Nowadays, with the emergence of new social customs promoted by the massive use of networks, this concern is moving towards a more practical slope analysis. Interests -guide of our attention and, therefore, knowledge too- have becoming object to commercialization of trademarks. Such maelstrom has contributed to social networks become big banks of interests dedicated to make business with our privacy, a behaviour that awakes many ethical controversies and, (...) increasingly, demands our work. (shrink)

Marielle Franco was part of a new generation of progressive activists in Brazilian politics. She was assassinated point-blank on March 14, 2018 by an elite shooter. In this piece, Meg Stalcup and Erika Robb Larkins examine how Marielle’s death is revealing of the issues that she fought for in her life. They also ask how she continues to be present in and beyond the unfolding investigation into who killed her.

InthewakeofthepresentcrisisintheMiddleEast,thispaperproposestolocatethe processes of state formation and nation building within a larger historical context, recovering the historicity of the crisis. It records the rise and fall of a nationalist developmental project in Syria through an analysis of class relations. It highlights an essential continuity in the nature of class reproduction from the late Ottoman to the early independence period, centered on the conservative nationalism of the mercantile ruling bloc. It associates the rise of a national developmental project with the politicization of (...) the Bmiddle classes,^ which occupied a central role in the state apparatus. This class represented the main driving force behind the expansion of the boundaries of political power and the process of nation building. It is the class polarization of society that fuelled the development of a nation-building project and favored the creation of a national populist alliance against the monopoly of traditional ruling classes. However, this alliance was short-lived, and the process of authoritarian demobilization that followed led to the resurgence of personal networks and the end of nation building. (shrink)

Society is one of the intangible needs of humans, for humans since their very dawn have been a social animal. Through this article, we have attempted to analyze the social aspects of current day Nepal, and have made a humble attempt to categorize the major challenges faced by current day Nepal under 4 major headings.

Mexico, with the commissioning of the "National Crusade Against Hunger Program" in 2013, aimed at serving the population that presents both extreme poverty and food deprivation. The article aims to analyze whether the criterion of the selection of the municipalities of the State of Veracruz incorporated in the National Crusade Against Hunger Program (PNCH) show complementarity with the efforts in the fight against poverty in the social expenditure strategy applied in the Priority Attention Zones Program (ZAP) and the Priority Areas (...) Development Program (PDZP) and, particularly, the indigenous municipalities that have a greater degree of social exclusion. The adjustment of a binary logistic regression model is presented, in order to assess the incidence of contextual factors to interpret the scope of the strategy adopted by the federal government in the fight against poverty and hunger. As a result, it is evident that there is no continuity in the fight against poverty, since the municipalities included in the strategy Priority Areas of Attention and Program of Development of Priority Zones are not considered in the selection of municipalities incorporated in the National Program of Crusade Against Hunger, a situation that identifies the relationship between programs is not complementary. (shrink)

This article attempts to provide an insight about the status of Students Union in Nepal, and describes, how they are not been able to solve the problems arising in the daily life of students.

Corruption is one of the major problems of present day world, that is intangible in itself, but, plays a major role in our daily life, which either, directly or indirectly, is effecting our lives. Through this paper, we have tried to classify the types of corruption under five major headings.

The ontological turn or ontologically-oriented approach accentuates the key importance of intercultural variability in ontologies. Different ontologies produce different ways of experiencing the world, and therefore, participation in alternative realities is very desirable in anthropological and ethnological investigation. Just the participation in alternative realities itself enables researchers to experience alterity and ontoconceptual differences. The present study aims to demonstrate the power of ritual in alteration, and to show how co-experiencing rituals serves to uncover ontological categories and relations. We argue that (...) the experience of alterity in everyday activities is of a different quality than the experience of alterity when participating in rituals. Transcendent reality is accessible during rituals. It serves as source of potentialities. These potentialities are actualized in ritual and entangled with people's everyday existence. Furthermore, we argue that participating in ritual enables the researcher to step into the alterity of alterity, and to get nearer to the origins of ontologies. Ritual participation also invokes the extension of consciousness and provides a collectively shared cognition, opening up the ontological dimension and enabling access to existential experiences and concepts. In these settings, relations between people and the world can be recognized and investigated. (shrink)

This work focuses on the relational dimension of the encounter between teacher and students meant as a structural element for teaching practice. By using theoretical group-analytical and anthropo-analytical coordinates, the authors psychodynamically problematize some relational conditions that may influence learning. This research concentrates on the circumstances that limit and allow the birth of a group arrangement capable to learn from experience, rather than on a perspective to teach-learn in a perfect agreement with planning. Intercultural education is pointed out and located (...) as a horizon and ideal term to guide educational practice. (shrink)

"Meeting strangers" is a metaphor for the increasingly common experience of working with diversity in family therapy. This book offers a model of cultural family therapy for working with families across cultures, particularly immigrants, refugees, and minorities in mainstream society. -/- The author draws together several emerging trends in therapy and the human sciences: narrative approaches, transcultural psychiatry, studies of autobiographical memory and the distributed and saturated self, translation theory and sociolinguistics. He offers an understanding of the "situated nature" of (...) human problems and tools for translating the family's culture and idioms into a common language in a culturally responsive and collaborative way. -/- Each chapter is both theoretical and practical, far-reaching and grounded in the experiences of families in therapy. The chapters of Part I, Meeting Strangers, introduce themes of cultural family therapy, a synthesis of family therapy and transcultural psychiatry that reframes the presenting issue in therapy as the "presenting culture." Here DiNicola both critiques family therapy's unexamined use of cultural concepts and introduces fresh conceptual tools, such as spirals, masks, and roles, that facilitate the therapist's engagement with the family culture. -/- Part II, On the Threshold: Language, Identity, and Cultural Change, introduces a number of "changelings," "liminal people," and "orphans." Between or on the thresholds of two or more cultures, they struggle with issues around language and translation, identity and cultural change. The overbearing influence of Western concepts is seen in DiNicola's examination of the psychological, social, and cultural implications of the myth of independence. -/- Part III, Families as Storying Cultures, demonstrates in extended cases the power of narrative and of metaphor to transform experience. The final chapter is a moving memoir of the author's fascinating journey to Brazil to meet his father for the first time. -/- The author's aim is "to open space for people who have been treated like minor characters in the drama of family therapy." In doing so, he puts onto center stage all sorts of strangers in society, families of diversity, and their human predicaments, inviting his readers to engage in the full richness and complexity of culture, families, and therapy. (shrink)

The formation of the Afroeurasian world-system was one of the crucial points of social evolution, starting from which the social evolution rate and effective-ness increased dramatically. In the present article we analyze processes and scales of global integration in historical perspective, starting with the Agrarian Revolution. We connect the main phases of historical globalization with the processes of development of the Afroeurasian world-system. In the framework of the Afroeurasian world-system the integration began a few thousand years Before the Common Era. (...) In this world-system the continental and supracontinental links became rather developed long before the Great Geographic Discoveries and thus, they could quite be denoted as global (albeit in a somehow limited sense). As some researchers are still inclined to underestimate the scale of those links in the pre-Industrial era, it appears necessary to provide additional empirical support for our statement. It also turns necessary to apply a special methodology (which necessitated the use of the world-system approach). We analyze some versions of periodization of history of globalization. We also propose our own periodization of globalization using as its basis the growing scale of intersocietal links as an indicator of the level of globalization development. (shrink)

This forward-looking resource offers readers a modern contextual framework for conducting social science research with indigenous peoples. Foundational chapters summarize current UN-based standards for indigenous rights and autonomy, with their implications for research practice. Coverage goes on to detail minimally-invasive data-gathering methods, survey current training and competency issues, and consider the scientist’s role in research, particularly as a product of his/her own cultural background. From these guidelines and findings, students and professionals have a robust base for carrying out indigenous research (...) that is valid and reliable as well as respectful and ethical. Among the topics covered: -/- · Cultural theories and cultural dominance. -/- · The legal framework of research in indigenous contexts. -/- · The role of language within indigenous peoples’ cultural rights. -/- · Methodology: how to optimally collect data in the field. · Researchers’ influence and philosophy of science. -/- · Learning how to prepare research in indigenous contexts. -/- Research Methods in Indigenous Contexts is an important reference benefitting a wide audience, including students and researchers in the social sciences, humanities, and psychology; decision-makers of NGOs and GOs that act with regard to humanitarian aid, for tourism projects, or any other contingency with indigenous contexts; and policymakers interested in the aspects of human activity upon which indigenous cultural concerns are based. (shrink)

Michael Young, an anthropologist and Malinowski's authorized biographer, has selected the photographs based on one of Malinowski's unpublished studies of the region, and the plan of that abandoned project has helped structure this book.

I here respond to four SERRC commentators on my paper ‘Perspectivism, Deontologism and Epistemic Poverty’: Shira Elqayam, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Rik Peels and Hamid Vahid. I maintain that all accounts of epistemic justification must be constrained by two limit positions which have to be avoided. One is Conceptual Limit Panglossianism. The other is Conceptual Limit meliorism. Within these bounds one may offer an account of rationality or epistemic justification that is closer to Meliorism or Panglossianism. Remarked upon are my respondents’ considerations (...) on Alston, on suggestions for a separation between a more-subjective epistemic justification and a more-objective rationality, and objections to my position based on the assumption that we must embrace a very objective and truth-conducive concept of epistemic justification. (shrink)

Tulisan ini bermuara pada citizenship education yang dilihat dalam perspektif kemungkinan perkembangannya di masa depan dihubungkan dengan pendidikan karakter. Istilah Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan dan Karakter (PKnK) diintrodusir penulis untuk menunjuk pada kelekatan orientatif-koherensif kedua disiplin tersebut, selain dari mengadopsi istilah CCE (Character and Citizenship Education) Singapura.

This volume addresses key questions about the puzzle of human origins by focusing on a topic that is largely unexplored thus far, namely, the evolution of human wisdom. How can we best understand the human capacity for wisdom, where did it come from, and how did it emerge? It explores lines of convergence and divergence between Christian theology and evolutionary anthropology in its search to identify different aspects of wisdom. Critical to this discussion are the philosophical difficulties that arise when (...) two very different methodological approaches to the manner of humans becoming wise are brought together. The relative importance and significance of human language is another area of intense debate in defining the meaning of wisdom and its expression. How far and to what extent does a theologically informed wisdom discourse push evolutionary anthropology to formulate new questions and vice versa? -/- This volume shows that there is no simple consonance between evolutionary anthropology and theology. Yet, each discipline has much to learn from the other; the authors are in agreement that even in the midst of an awareness of dissonance and some tension, there can still be mutual respect. The goal of this book is to begin to develop a trans-disciplinary approach to the evolution of human wisdom, where each discipline is challenged to ask questions in a new way. This volume tackles the relationship between theology and science in a fresh way by focusing on a specific theme—wisdom—that is equally generative for both theology and evolutionary anthropology. (shrink)