Unit 1

FIRST TEXT

Mirtha Lischetti

Characteristics of anthropology as a science

What does anthropology study?

definition of Levi-Strauss: Anthropology aims for global knowledge

of man and encompasses the object in all geographical and historical extension, aspires to
applicable knowledge to the overall evolution of man, from the
hominids towards modern races and tends to conclusions, positive and
negative, but valid for all human societies, from the great
modern city to the smallest tribe.

It is a science with great aspirations. Anthropologists investigate laws of

transformation and functioning. Since the war, anthropology considers
that social conflicts are inherent to societies as facts
fundamentals.
Anthropology covers all times, all spaces, all
problems, the biological dimension and the cultural dimension. It aims to explain
differences and similarities between different human groups aim to provide reasoning
of continuity and changes in societies.

Social, Cultural, and Ethnological anthropology appears as a specific science.

of the well-known third world countries.
When we talk about others (those who deviate from the norm, otherness) it
the only thing they have in common is precisely the affirmation of difference.

Sociology - these are us

Anthropology - sciences of others

What the anthropologist must provide is a more systematic knowledge.

of the microstructure of society and its organization.
Aspires to provide scientific knowledge of society, questioning each
society in particular. The issues that anthropology encompasses are
broad.
Analysis of microsituations. Traditionally, the methodology was inductive and
empiricist. The fundamental thesis of empiricism is that universals or laws
that the anthropologists should have tried to discover are at an empirical level, in
the level of behavior. This methodology was an obstacle because the
social laws cannot be found at the level of behavior because this is a
synthesis of multiple determinations, and in any case, it can only express
such laws in a partial and distorted manner.
According to Popper: knowledge does not begin with perceptions or
observations with data collection or facts, but with problems.

There are different branches of Anthropology:

biological or physical anthropology: it underpins the other fields in our

animal origin. It involves reconstructing the course of human evolution from
of fossils. They also describe hereditary variations in populations.
contemporary.

archaeology
social and cultural devaluation.

anthropological linguistics: diversity of spoken languages. like language

influences.

cultural anthropology, social anthropology, and ethnology: description and analysis of

cultures of the past and present.

Distinction between ethnography and ethnology.

ETHNOGRAPHY is referred to as 'fieldwork', generally it takes the

form of a monographic work, which contains the description of a group
limited. Description of cultures. On the other hand, ETHNOLOGY is the theorization
about these descriptions.

Historical situation and knowledge in anthropology

Colonialism has been a necessary condition for the emergence of anthropology.
Pierre Bonte distinguishes five historical scientific periods in the development of
anthropology

15th Century:
historical content: Western discovery of the world, development of
mercantile capitalism and slave trade, primitive accumulation of
capital.
stages of ethnological thought: discovery of the 'wild world'.
constitution of a new field of knowledge, that is to say, the description of
habits
and customs.

Eighteenth Century:
historical content: liquidation of slavery and the beginning of colonialism
properly speaking, formation of Western industrial capitalism and new
possibilities of capital accumulation.
stages of ethnological thought: critique of the slave thesis collected
from other civilizations, the dichotomy 'savage-civilized' will become
‘primitivocivilized’.
1850 to 1880:
historical content: entry into the imperialist phase of world division and
origin of the colonial conquests.
stages of ethnological thought: repeating previous dichotomy primitive
civilized, anthropology is established as an independent discipline and
shares with the sciences of the time the ideology of evolutionism.

1920 to 1930:
historical content: definitive and triumphant implementation of the colonial system
stages of ethnological thought: criticism of evolutionism, constitution of
classical anthropology and its various scientific schools that define the
methods of observation and analysis.

1950 to 1960:
historical content: development of national liberation movements and
beginning of the processes of decolonization.
stages of ethnological thought: anthropology proposes its new object
and its relationship with it. Research on the foundations of a
general anthropology and criticism of classical anthropology.

understand colonialism in the third stage (1850-1880)

In Europe from 1870 there was a long period of peace that lasted until World War I.
GM.
The African and Asian populations were to be awakened and led to the
the system that had worked best up until then.
the feeling of superiority of whites was associated with great progress
economic.
The last 30 years of the 19th century were characterized by a long and important
crisis, which under the name of Great Depression lasted until the early
In the 20th century, there was a decrease in growth rates in all branches of activity.
economic due to insufficient outlets to absorb goods and capital
accumulated.
In this crisis, production was concentrated in a few industrial companies.
thus giving rise to some economic empires. Europe was closed off by
Customs barriers, the powers began to seek other parts for the
outputs of their products. The English then focused on stimulating
investments abroad, especially in colonial areas. search for
markets during crises of overproduction. The exclusive possession of
rich regions in raw materials were essential for large groups
economic. What is the colonial situation? It is the domination imposed by a
foreign racial, ethnic, and culturally different minority that acts on behalf of
a racial or ethnic and cultural superiority, dogmatically asserted. Such
a minority imposes itself on an indigenous population that constitutes a majority
numerical, but is inferior to the dominant group from the point of view
material. The colonial situation arises from the conquest and develops from the
establishment of relationships between two social beings, between two civilizations.
Three types of companies are distinguished within the characterization of the situation.
colonial.
A. the company material (land control and population modification,
economies linked to the metropolis

B. the political and administrative company (control of local authorities and

replacement authorities, control of justice, opposition to initiatives
indigenous policies

C. the ideological company (attempts at religious possession to allow

evangelization, direct action of imported learning, transmission of
cultural models based on the prestige developed by the group
dominant

The anthropological schools that dominate the history of colonial expansion

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The 19th and 20th centuries are evolutionism and functionalism.

During the eighteenth century, the ideologues of the Enlightenment create a progressive vision of the
wild societies.
The eighteenth century preserves the belief in the universality of reason,
expression.
Savage societies are not studied by themselves, but with the help
what can contribute to the establishment of a typology of operations that
the human spirit is capable. The savages will be the representatives
contemporary to the men of origin or close to the origin. For the
evolutionary thinkers, the primitive is the representative of the first stage
of society.
Stages of progress: every society is reduced at a certain moment.
to a stage of technical-economic evolution. for example, at the time of the
rev. industrial, the criterion for advancement on the scale of evolution is
essentially technological.

Colonial exploitation implies the transition from a subsistence economy or

relative surplus, to an economy based on the production of surplus
for the monopolistic market.
Appropriation and privatization of land and the production of cheap labor.

It is considered that what is discovered belongs to no one, as if that...

areas were uninhabited

invoke legal causes, rights created by European legislation

legitimize acts of appropriation

evolutionism: Around 1830, some theories began to emerge in Europe that would attempt to
explain similarities and differences between socio-cultural phenomena, in such a way
that thus arose a general theory of humanity, disconnected from
mythical or religious conditioning. The common thread was the concept of
evolution whose central idea was that it is possible to order the forms in series
natural life in such a way that the transition from one form can be intuitively inferred
life to the other. From this point on, then, that scientific anthropology,
it starts with evolutionism giving rise to the first of the schools
anthropological.
 Successive and gradual stages of Morgan:

Savage: which in turn was divided into lower-middle (identified by fishing

and the mastery of fire) and superior (with mastery of weapons such as the bow and
arrow)
Barbarism: at the lower level only with the mastery of pottery and the
domestication; in the midst, with the conquest of agriculture and iron, in the
higher level.
Civilization: stage corresponding to the peoples who developed the alphabet
phonetic and that possess literary records.

Thus, it was determined that there were different types of families that evolved until
reach the patriarchal family in its forms of polygamy and monogamy. Many have
demonstrated errors in Morgan's theoretical models, but the fact that
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Engels will take his concept of 'ancient society' as the basis for his work.
The origin of the family, private property, and the State gave to Morgan
a notable prestige within anthropology. Indeed, for Engels, the
Morgan's theoretical development demonstrated that the family was an institution.
established and that therefore institutions were not eternal but rather for the
opposite were the result of socioeconomic situations.
coinciding with the fourth phase indicated by Bonte, in which it is consolidated
definitely colonialism corresponds to the stage of thought
ethnological, the passage from evolutionism to functionalism. Functionalism arises
like the need that colonization has to know the institutions
locales, for which the analysis of social structures is required
Indigenous people.

Malinowski:

They continue to believe in evolution, they are still interested in origins, the
development process, but I see more and more clearly that the
answers to all questions of evolutionism must derive
directly from the study of the facts and institutions whose past development
we want to rebuild.
The fieldwork technique will prevail; the functional method will ...
to place your interest in the relationships between customs, institutions and
cultural aspects, the anthropologist must now stay extensively about
the ground to understand society in its interiority.
In functionalist anthropology, the comparative point of view fades away and leaves
place for monographic studies on cultures that contain what is necessary
for your understanding.
Starting from World War II, conceptual frameworks are abandoned.
relativists, an evolutionism is assumed that measures the advancement of the
human societies by amount of energy consumed per inhabitant. The
The world is divided into developed and underdeveloped.
 The classical anthropological model

It is called a model because it aims to explain what anthropology produced.

when it starts to establish itself as a science, the anthropological model
builds in an era when our science is consolidating, accumulating a
data corpus and a theoretical corpus that will deserve recognition from the
scientific community within the social sciences. And Classic as well since
this model is going to be incorporated into the daily lives of the actors in society
as a whole, like the summary of content of the ideas about the
anthropological social groups. The classical anthropological model is constructed
since our discipline in the 60s-70s, after decolonization
of the world allows for the corresponding criticism, and since then that
construction will undergo modifications. IN SUMMARY, the model
Classical anthropology is an abstract scientific construction, formulated by the
anthropologists of the 60s-70s to explain anthropological production
from the late 19th century until after World War II.
The type of society that anthropology addresses will guide its theories.
general.

We distinguish two dimensions in the classical anthropological model:

THEORETICAL AND TECHNICAL

Theoretical: it is composed of a set of variables that correspond to

a certain conception of anthropological social groups; these
variables son: objetividad, autenticidad, importancia de lo cualitativo, totalidad,
homogeneity and cultural relativism. The anthropologist aims to be objective; he must
transcend their methods of thinking. With this, Levi-Strauss understands
elaborate new mental categories, introduce notions of space and time,
of opposition and contradiction strange to the observer's thought, of
anthropologist. anthropology assumes objectivity as knowledge
from the outside, like being from another social group, not from the inside of
own group, eternity is sought in other cultures.
According to Levi-Strauss, the sociologist, the psychologist, the historian, etc., remain as
the subjectives because they continue knowing in the interiority of their own culture,
while the anthropologist frees himself from that burden of subjectivity that colors his
observation and that does not allow him to see the unconscious structures with which
it is handled.
According to Lewis, the only way to achieve total knowledge is where
establish a comparative control with 3 or 4 anthropologists of different backgrounds
nationality and very different cultures; in that way each one erases and
it dilutes the subjectivity that the other places on the object.
Being objective for an anthropologist has come to mean questioning whether things
the most difficult ones to access are the most obvious ones, that is, the
everyday and normal things. The obvious is what lifts along the way.
one, in front of one or against one.
Menendez develops the following example of the obvious: a simple thing, a
It is well known by all that according to the group or social class to which one belongs
it belongs moves in a certain way; this obvious fact has accessed
only
recently to those in charge of curing and facing the problem of
to die (the doctors), was also hidden from social scientists and
in general for our culture as people. That is to say, the fact that the
lower class people are attended to and die in a certain way in a
hospital of a certain type and that middle-class people can die from another
form has been revealed lately by ethnosociology and the
anthropologists.
Levi-Strauss points to totality as the second great ambition of the
anthropology after objectivity. One must be exclusive, unique, carrying
a total investigation revealing ecological biological data,
economic, linguistic, artistic, etc. The entirety is assumed according to
cultural systems have almost total autonomy or dissolve social reality
in the cultural reality, forgetting the complex relationships that those two
orders remain.
As for homogeneity, traditional society is more homogeneous than
our societies. The homogeneity of this traditional society only
it recognizes the differences in sex, age, and status. It is not a homogeneity.
in which everyone does the same thing. People are homogeneous because
they share the same tradition and type of work and they worship, they marry,
they feel shame or pride in the same way, etc.
Finally, we have the variable of cultural relativism, which is inherent to the
classical conception of anthropology. cultural relativism means that the
values expressed in any culture must be understood and judged
only according to the way members of a culture see the
things that give life to it. When comparing a polygamous society with
a monogamous society we have no valid way of asserting that
one is better than the other, both satisfy human needs, each one
it has values that are its own that are validated from the point of view of the
man who lives in one system or another. Cultural relativism is a doctrine
that prescribes the benevolence which postulates an ethical neutrality for which
all cultures are equally valid.

The technical dimension of the model is closely related to the

theoretical dimension, refers to the type of work that the anthropologist does and to the
analysis unit that it employs. The technique par excellence for the work of
anthropological field is participant observation, which implies, for
being able to materialize, operating with a small unit of analysis, is
to say that when proposing observation with participation, it is assumed
implicit what we call the level of authenticity. because observation with
Participation implies coactivity and coexistence with the community or the unit.
an alternative that starts to study.

What does observation with participation imply?

Starting to get involved in the community to socialize with people implies the
the prepotency of the presence of a strange being that suddenly appears before
a group.
The other key technique is the intentional selection made of members
from the community with which we work to establish in-depth information and
qualified.
 Contemporary anthropology and decolonization.

What remains valid from the classical model after the concrete fact of the
decolonization?

The destruction of the colonial regime in Africa in the 1960s is one of the
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major events of the 20th century. The efforts of the European powers
the division of Africa occurred during the imperialist era at a time when
the powerful monopolistic groupings based on industrial might and
financial tried to expand their domain to seize raw materials
especially minerals.

There are many forms of expression that the movements took.

national liberation: the defense of the land, the resistance to the trader
foreigner, to taxes and to forced labor.

On the other hand, in the Asian continent, the independence of India is produced and
the communist revolution in China and in North Vietnam.
The end of the war meant discovering underdevelopment, dependency, the
colonialism; it was the experts from the colonizing countries who were going
losing their colonies, those who discovered the colonial situation.

The essential function of decolonization is, by reincluding in the

history of colonized societies as autonomous entities, to create the
the need for a restructuring of knowledge. Anthropology rediscovers the
history.
Towards the end of the 1960s, there will be a development in the academic environment.
public and widespread recognition of the colonial situation and the assumption of
a critical stance towards it.
 SECOND TEXT
Marvin Harris

The development of anthropological theory. History of the theories of the

culture

Evolutionism: the methods between 1860 and 1890 anthropology moved from the
nothing to maturity.

The historical evolutionist school has its roots in the 18th century.

continuity in ethnography

In the ethnographic sources, there is continuity between the decade of 1860 and the
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previous ones of the 19th century. At the same time, there was a constant increase in
number of different societies known about which there were reports that
were used to systematically compare. All improvements or progress
accumulated over the 19th century. This demonstrates that accumulation and
Progressive refinement is not exclusive to biological and physical sciences.

the importance of archaeology

the abrupt anthropological development cannot be attributed solely to the

accumulation of ethnographic knowledge. archaeology also had great
importance; the first half of the 19th century was a period of many
discoveries, which confirmed the existence of those successive ones
stages deduced by philosophers.
Around 1860, the assumption that Europeans had been anciently
savages had already been confirmed by indisputable evidence excavated from the
earth.

stone, bronze and iron

the discovery of the Neolithic and Paleolithic
Lyell's interpretation of the Paleolithic: gathers all the evidence
known, geological, archaeological, linguistic, and ethnological that proved
the contemporaneity of human tools with extinct animals.
importance of archaeological data in Taylor's work
limitations of archaeology: the attempt to complete the evidence
archaeological research using ethnographic and historical data was conducted throughout that area
epoch in an entirely explicit manner. Morgan, for example, establishes
definition of the ethnic periods of savagery, barbarism, and civilization
after pointing out the usefulness of the terms, Stone Age, Bronze Age, and
iron for the classification of ancient art objects.
Another example from McLennan: geological testimony shows us races such
primitives like some of those that exist today, but it is limited to informing us about
the foods they ate, the weapons they used, and the way they shaped their
decorations.
the comparative method: the basis of this method was the belief that the
different sociocultural systems that could be observed in the present
they had a certain degree of similarity with the various vanished cultures.
the life of certain contemporary societies closely resembles that of
What life must have been like during the Paleolithic; other groups resemble the
typically Neolithic culture and others resemble the first societies
state-organized. the way Morgan conceived this
prolongation of the past in the present is characteristic: the institutions
domestics of the barbarians or of the savage ancestors of the human race
they are still exemplified in some portions of the family: the organization of the
society based on sex, then based on marriage and then
about the basis of the territory.
It is about constructing a sequence logically and deductively.

the origin of the comparative method: the main stimulus for this practice
it was taken from biology, in which zoological and botanical knowledge of
the existing organisms were routinely applied for the interpretation of
the structure and function of extinct fossil forms.
the value of the comparative method:
the limitations of the comparative method: for it to be used
ethnography in the interpretation of prehistory requires comparisons
systematics of many different cultures of the same basic type
technological ecological and technological economic. only through a comparison that has
those characteristics will allow identifying the elements that in each case
determined are the result of contact with other more complex societies,
those that are the result of local environmental circumstances and those that are
statistically associated with the basic type. It is, for example, a serious mistake
to suppose that contemporary societies of bands of hunters and of
collectors are representative of the main aspects of the groups
paleolithic. almost all classic examples of hunter bands or
collectors known by ethnography are marginalized or refugee communities,
confined or cornered in unfavorable environments by the bordering groups
of more advanced societies. Many of the anomalies in the evolution of
social organization is attributable to contacts between low groups
density, organized in bands or in complex towns and societies with
state organization, contacts whose result has been the emergence of
colonial situations or minority groups of special status.

Tylor and the use of the comparative method:

According to the ethnographer, they must evaluate the reliability based on their best judgment.
from each of the authors he cites, and if it is possible to obtain several
descriptions to confirm each aspect in each locality. the match
from the recurrence of 2 different anthropologists to the same place with the same
descriptions make it viable
 Morgan's strategy

the origin of the statistical comparative method:

Tylor uses a comparative method of statistical analysis using a sample of
between 300 and 400 companies, calculating the percentage of the probabilities of
association between post-marital residence, filiation, technonymy and the
cobada, thus achieving a better understanding of exogamy, endogamy,
the marriage of cross cousins and the prohibitions of incest.

the strategy of spencer:

Spencer creates tables that consist of condensed reports arranged in a

uniform way to facilitate a summarized view of each society in its
morphology, physiology, and development.

the abuse of the comparative method:

despite the great work that the anthropologists of the late 19th century did, it cannot
to deny that evolutionists were responsible and victims of mistakes
enormous ethnographic studies that instead of being compensated by their resource to
A high number of examples, with the repetition it worsened much more.

the relativist criticism

the survivals and the comparative method: the essence of the concept of survivals
It is phenomena that originated from a set of conditions.
causal factors from a previous era persist in a period where they already have
the original conditions have ceased to exist. Tylor: there are processes, customs,
opinions that have only transitioned to a new state out of habit
society, different from the one in which they originated, thus constitutes evidence
and permanent examples of the previous state of culture, which has evolved
produced this new. Margaret Hodgen on the other hand suggests that the term
survival applied to irrational customs preserved by the peoples
civilized and characterized by their nonconformity with guidelines
existing in an advanced culture.

useful and useless survivals: at one end of the range could be placed the
wings of the bat, resulted from the transformation of limbs of a
pentadactyl mammal, which are functional. In the other, the human appendix
that lacks utility.
the functionalist critique of survivals: a survival is a cultural trait that
does not fit into its cultural environment. More than functioning, it persists, or rather its
operation in some way does not harmonize with the surrounding culture. traits
that by surviving to the present they have lost their utilitarian character and have passed to
perform recreational or aesthetic functions.
the importance of history: Tylor and Morgan believed that the institutions of
present could not be understood without reconstructing its background in the
evolution. The survivals were like traces that facilitated that work of
reconstruction and at the same time served as a warning that a method
synchronous, like the one that they would later actually adopt the
functionalists
British people could never be enough to explain the differences and similarities.
sociocultural.
fieldwork: Malinowski blamed the doctrine of survivals for another
omission more from the evolutionists. 'the true damage that this concept did
has been to delay the effective fieldwork. instead of looking for the
current function of a cultural fact, the observer was content to isolate
rigid and autonomous entities. Neither Morgan, nor Tylor nor Spencer initiated.
work programs
from intensive fieldwork like Malinowski. they were quite convinced that
the evolutionary changes had been regular enough for it to be
it is possible to recover lost historical data through comparison and
logical reconstruction. It is a well-known historical fact that from the
dedication to intensive field work did not automatically follow one
most refined application of the comparative method rather than the opposite, what
what happened was that the comparative method was virtually abandoned. more
There is precision with field work.
the myth of unilineal evolutionism: error that the stages of evolution that
they reconstructed thanks to the comparative method had the character of
fixed sequences and that consequently, they maintained that all cultures
they had
of necessarily going through each of those steps. this error is
know
as unilinear evolutionism, to designate the classical version of the
evolutionism
in which it deals with particular cultures placing them in the stages of
a
universal sequence. more the pretense that the classic evolutionary version
I denied that specific cultures could skip some steps of a
the sequence or evolution in a divergent way lacks basis. the opinion of
my organ was that the experience of the human gender has not flowed through canals
almost reports, that human needs in similar conditions have
sido
essentially the same. Morgan was not sure about the degree of uniformity
that had existed.
for Morgan and his contemporaries, the most interesting features of history
it was the similarities and not the differences, because the science of history
universal
It depended on the similarities. That is why it is justified.
the myth of the denial of diffusion: misunderstood idea of opposition
diffusion invention
independent. The diffusionists identified themselves with the
point of view that man was basically uninventive and attributed to
the
evolutionists held the directly opposite opinion, dogmatically denying that
similar inventions could explain similarities on a global scale. the
historical particularists, on the other hand, adopted an intermediate position,
rejecting at the same time the exaggeration of man's inventive capacity.
none
the evolutionists defended as a matter of principle that the
similarities
were more often a product of independent invention than of the
diffusion.
Tylor had felt an interest in following the trail of the widespread traits and to the
I had once been deeply convinced that in the stadiums
evolutionists
a general uniformity could be appreciated.
For most evolutionists, independent inventions had
interest not to demonstrate parallel evolution, but to demonstrate unity
psychic.
contributions of parallelism and convergence to uniformity of
evolution: the dichotomies of unilineal evolution-multilineal evolution and the
independent invention-diffusion are related to a third distinction
which also induces error: that of parallel evolution and convergent evolution.
In parallel evolution, the structures evolve from conditions
similar
and they reach conditions again similar to through stages equally
similar. In convergent evolution, cultures evolve towards stages
similar through dissimilar stages. Each case of diffusion is a case of
convergence. On the other hand, the parallel evolution, which they identified
exclusively with the presumed unilineal evolutionism of Tylor, Morgan and
spencer was considered extremely rare. for the boasian, the demonstration
of
convergent evolution refuted the evolutionary position as a whole.
he attacked the evolutionists by repeatedly demonstrating that in the field
Sociocultural causes could have the same effects.
evolutionists, what was essential was the general uniformity that resulted from
those parallel and converging processes and the step-by-step concatenation of
identical causes. Tylor says: the state of things that we find is not of
the fact that one race does or knows exactly what another race does or
he/she knows,
but similar stages appear in different times and places of
development.
Lewis Henry Morgan, diffusionist: Morgan's stance is also characterized by
because of the same indifference to the issues of the opposition between invention
independent and diffusion or between parallel revolution and convergent. morgan
I explicitly include the diffusion among the mechanisms that made the possibility of the
substantial uniformity of sociocultural evolution: 'the most advanced portion
of
the human race remains stalled at certain stages of its progress
until
like some invention or discovery, such as the domestication of animals
o
the smelting of iron ore gave a new and vigorous push towards
go ahead. all great inventions and progress spread by themselves.
the
less advanced tribes at a certain point reach this same moment of
discoveries. It was through this repeatedly repeated process that the tribes
Those more advanced elevated those that were below them.
THE EVOLUTIONISTS: RESULTS
the Morgan scheme: envisioned human history as divided into three
great ethnic periods: savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
inferior savagery subsistence of fruits and nuts
savage medium fish; fire
superior savagery bow and arrow
inferior barbaric ceramic
barbarism media domestication of animals (old world), cultivation of
corn, irrigation, adobe and stone architecture (new m)
superior barbarism iron tools
civilization phonetic alphabet and writing
in the domain of the family, Morgan recognized five successive forms: the
consanguineous, based on group marriage within the same
generation
(siblings and siblings); the punalúa, based on a form of group marriage in the
what
the brothers were forbidden to marry the sisters; the syndiasmic
o
by couples, the husband or wife could terminate the marriage at
will
patriarchal, short-lived variety, the man as head of the family had
authority
supremacy, polygamy, monogamy, equality of women.
deficiencies of Morgan's scheme: a lot, haha
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enduring aspects of Morgan's scheme: his perspective on evolution

of
the family, the terminology of kinship and the kinship groups are
suggestive
and valuable, their description of the clans marks the beginning of the true
study
seriousness of unilineal affiliation groups.
the schema of Bachofen: matriarchy
the Maine scheme: patriarchy
convergence towards the continuous Polk society-urban society
Mclennan scheme
controversy between morgan and mclennan
matriarchy, polyandry, totemism
the origin of the incest taboo: analysis of McLennan on exogamy and the
endogamy. For Morgan, the taboo was due to biological consequences.
The evolution of religion: with the Enlightenment comes rationality. for
Bachofen
what the direction of history imposed was a series of religious reforms.
tylor and the evolution of religion: animism exists wherever it may be
a
belief in souls, spirits, daimons, demons, gods, or other beings of the
same category. The reason for all these concepts is sought by Taylor in the
belief
in the human soul.
Frazer and the evolution of religion: distinction between religion and magic.
more mentalism
return to mysticism
structural perspectives in the study of religion: smith and spencer
they began the analysis of religion as part of a broader social system
broad
both were evolutionists.
the Spencer scheme: law of evolution: in all spheres of the universe
hay
an integration of matter and a concomitant disappearance of movement,
during which matter transitions from an indefinite and incoherent homogeneity
a
a defined and coherent heterogeneity; and during which the movement
conserved undergoes a parallel transformation.
evolutionism as scientific progress:
the absence of cultural materialism: cultural mat is an approach that
postulate
that the material conditions of a society are what promote the
cultural and social changes.
Morgan was not a cultural materialist: the evolution of these germs of
thinking has been guided by a natural logic that constituted an attribute
essential of the same brain.
Spencer was not a cultural materialist.
third text: The historical perspective in anthropology
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The emergence of evolutionary anthropology

Evolutionary thought in anthropology was based on the
comparison
among the so-called primitive or savage societies, in contrast to Europe of the
second half of the 19th century. According to Boivin, there are 3 interrogatives that
they characterized the evolutionary program:
Why do human societies differ from each other?
What is man?
What is its origin?
The study of primitive societies is what transformed anthropology.
in
science in the second half of the nineteenth century. Societies were sought
contemporary ones that allowed to recreate the living conditions during the
age
made of stone.
Among the founding fathers, a series of basic premises were reached, such as
how
that most primitive societies are formed based on the
links
bloodlines, that the clans (groups of unilineal descent, on the side of the
mother or father) are the units of social organization and that there is no
the concept of private property. The 'primitive' was considered as a being
illogical,
dominated by the traditions of religion and given to promiscuity
sexual.
Those references also trusted that modern society was instituted.
a
based on the definition of a State with territorial ties, the constitution of the
monogamous family and the development of private property. In the early
times of evolutionary anthropology, the study of family, property and the
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state was developed in legal terms, since most of them had
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trained as lawyers.
For Bachofen or Maine, the modern European family was the result of
evolutionary modifications suffered by ancient forms of kinship. for
Bachofen, those ancient forms were matriarchy and unilineal descent.
for
I discussed patriarchy and unilateral affiliation. Bachofen proposed that there existed a
original stadium of absolute promiscuity, with women exposed to lust and
to the
sexual tyranny by men, a situation that was only overcome
thanks to the
emergence of religion, considered as the only efficient lever of everything
the
civilization. From that moment the matriarchy appears. The men too.
then a gender domain is reestablished, in the first instance through
the
covada, and then through the principle of the spirit that establishes itself as the highest
the
right of parenthood.
Unlike Bachofen, Maine postulates that the family origin was the
patriarchy.
It also establishes a distinction between traditional societies based
in the
status of those modern societies established in the contract. in the
first
of them, rights are distributed in personal relationships, the
kinship
and the established hierarchies. The contract societies, on the other hand, are sustained
in
a series of formal principles that are above people. It is about
of
a distinction that later served many scholars to establish
differentiation between simple and complex societies.
The great evolutionary authors:
Morgan and Tylor are the two preeminent figures of scientific anthropology.
delete
19th century. Frazer is also there. Morgan and Tylor used the method
comparative.
I categorize them as unilineal evolutionists, assuming that there is a
dominant line of evolution that all societies follow. That pattern of
evolution does not rest on a rigid line but rather refers to
trends
generals and above all different rhythms that make some societies
progress more rapidly than others. when unilinear evolutionists
they talk about the evolution or progress of social institutions they refer to
dimensions such as material culture, means of subsistence, the
organization of kinship and religious beliefs. Morgan was the one who
finish
to impose the most famous scheme (savagery, barbarism, and civilization) and
ways
of the constitution of the family (consanguineous family, punalúa, sindic lineage,
patriarchal, monogamous.
The great questioning towards Morgan and all evolutionists in general
radical
is it methodologically correct to take the primitive groups
contemporaries
as a way of approaching older sociocultural forms of our
society. Historical particularists argued that the lines of evolution
were
so different that they could find very rudimentary technologies with
ways
of super complex social organization.
McLennan was the first to attempt to incorporate totemism into history.
general
of humanity; it refers to the special bond of a spiritual nature that
himself
establishes among people with a certain species, whether animal or
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vegetal.
The other most important evolutionary anthropologist was Tylor, for whom also
the
culture is synonymous with civilization and the differences that appear are barely
of
grade and are due to unequal stages of development. Tylor develops the theory of
the
survivals, which were traces that facilitated that reconstruction work,
the
survivals persist in societies but lose their utilitarian character and
foreman
a part now of a system of recreational or aesthetic practices.
Unlike Morgan, Tylor did not propose a rigid evolutionary sequence.
Proposes distinction and classification of successive mental states: animism,
polytheism and monotheism. Animism is the moment when man
develops the conception of the human soul, which emerges as a model for
to build
in turn the idea of lower souls and also spiritual beings. It is believed in a
soul with physical properties; souls can move into animals and
plants;
this leads to the belief in the animation of nature. Tylor's position is
that the early religions arise because of a mistake of
conception
humans dream, see shadows, have hallucinations, they confuse that with
the
reality.
According to McLennan, animistic beliefs give birth to a new
religion
called totemism. A totem is chosen, a certain element as a distinctive feature.
delete
group, whose membership is transmitted by inheritance, in principle through the
mothers. The people of the tribe believe that they descend from the same species as the
totem or of the same original totemic animal.
Another well-known scheme within evolutionism is that of Frazer. It proposes
the
line of evolution of social thinking modes based on the
triad
magic-religion-science. Observe the tradition in which people are cyclically killed.
the
priest of the temple of Diana in Nemi, Italy. find out what reasons existed
so that this tradition which seeks to find in the most diverse is established
societies. In this way, it aims to demonstrate that those reasons acted as
extensive and universal way, instituting practices that are coherent
structural between them. But what motivates their reflection is that societies
civilized people have practiced these barbaric customs, which suggests that
they are traditions inherited from earlier stages of evolution
sociocultural.
One of the ideas proposed by Frazer is that the savages are not capable of
distinguish between the natural and the supernatural, unlike the civilized. that's why
he thinks that the mind of the savage makes him assume that the world works from
of
supernatural agents. Magic was considered by Frazer as a
expression
primitive of science, characterized by the regularity of false processes of
cause and effect. Frazer proposes that in a certain period of history
the
people went through an intellectual stage in which they began to abandon
the
magic as a rule of faith and practice to adopt the religion in its place.
The diffusionist variant

Diffusionism was one of the most important anthropological movements.

translatedText
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the
early days of scientific anthropology. Developed almost in a
contemporary with 19th-century evolutionism, left concepts that
they continue
using, like that of cultural areas, or cultural circles. Diffusionism
conceive
humanity as lacking ingenuity when considering that objects
cultural
they were invented only once and transmitted through migration and the
cultural contact. Ratzel understood that cultural contacts largely depend on
part of human will and random factors. In this, it opposes the
evolutionism that discounts the ability of different societies to create
objects according to the state of evolution in which they are located.
diffusionism relied on historical reconstructions and the method
comparative, but with a big difference: the past was no longer a
unilinear movement through defined stages, cultural history was a
fragmented account of cultural encounters, migrations and influences, and each
unique instance.
diffusionism rests on the idea that cultures are sets of
features
cultural practices adopted through cultural contact and migrations. Therefore the
different
cultures would be nothing more than the result of various origins and histories. the
the concept of survival developed by Tylor is somehow functional to
diffusionist thought since it deals with non-functional cultural traits,
isolated, but of effective existence. the fall of evolutionism as a theory
dominant allows that idea of societies as totalities
coherent
it gave way to understanding all cultures as the product of potentials
survivals.
Many of the diffusionist ideas are still being used, especially in the
transmission issues related to migrations and studies of
cultural comparison.
functionalism: linked to positivism. positivism is the use of methods
of
the natural sciences for social studies. in the case of functionalism
to him/her

he attributes its creation to Durkheim. He saw society as an organism.

human
Each part of society serves a function like the organs of the body.
Malinowski: establishes a theory based on what is known as the theory of
the
needs.
Culture and needs are linked: through the following statement: the
culture
it functions as a tool to satisfy individual needs
basics
such as procreating, sleeping, eating, etc. This connection is a kind of
arrow
ascending. At the base of this arrow will be the individual needs.
of
these needs, as they are satisfied, for example by eating, is going to
news
a satisfaction not only from the intake of food but also from the
creation
of utensils. These primary needs forge derived needs, in
this
In case of making the utensils, or habits at the table. We start from something basic.
how to eat. From this basic need arise the derivatives. And the
the conjunction of these needs will be closely related to the
what
we know as culture. This culture has 2 basic issues: the
institutions
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and the operational question, the concept of function. When we talk about institution
we refer to a minimum unit of organization of culture, we have
institutions to meet certain needs. The function of the
institution: when we talk about function, it is always a satisfaction of
both derived and basic individual needs. Thus, we have that the
link between culture and needs is through the satisfaction of
needs, through the institutions these needs are satisfied.
Malinowski's functionalism, according to certain authors, is of a cut
biopsychological
because it is based and founded on the fact that man has a series of
needs (nourishment, security, growth) that are satisfied by
the
social and cultural institutions. Each function is assigned an institution. It
the
he is going to criticize his determinism as he does not recognize that an institution satisfies
various needs at the same time.
Malinowski is the representative of a very deterministic (rigid) functionalism,
he
it establishes that there are different authors who believe that there are 3 postulates of
the
what is the functionalist theory of Malinowski:
Postulate of the functional unit of society: It is a very
abstractconceptual
to explain. The functional unit of society, through this
Malinowski's postulate states that each constitutive element of a society
it will be
functional for the complete social system and, therefore, this system is
totally
organized.
Postulate of universal functionalism: All constitutive elements of
a
society fulfills a function.
Postulate of necessity: Each constitutive element of a society is a
indispensable part of it.
It differs from Radcliffe-Brown in what both define as an institution, since
for Malinowski an institution is going to be a group of people who come together and
organized with a specific purpose and defined statutes, also within this
Malinowski's term of institution will incorporate techniques and technology.
(mechanisms) by which that group of people is going to achieve that purpose. Their
the theory will focus on the individual, and includes in its analysis the aspects
emotional, intellectual, and the aspect of what it calls biological quality
full
of man and that must be described in a cultural analysis. For him, the
the individual is the mental, emotional part and the elemental needs that
they would form a part of that nature of man (not of the cultural part of
man). For Malinowski, physical needs, the influences of the environment, and
Cultural institutions must be studied carefully. That's why it is
it is important to work with the man in all his complexity as he is going to have
that
necessity, but also the man will be able to provide the means to
satisfy those needs, with which the means-mechanisms-
technology rules
that accompany the satisfaction of those needs are also
important for Malinowski and therefore he will work on them in his analysis.
Basic needs are intrinsic to the human organism (biological).
what
they will be universal or precultural (the individual, from the moment they are born, is born with
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those
needs for food, security, etc.). The need is not created by the
contact
with culture or through learning in a society. It also talks about another type
of
needs arising from the fact that man lives in society (they are neither primary nor
universal) that are satisfied by institutions such as, for example, religion. They are
needs induced by the processes of adaptation of man within
your
society, which also imposes a new type of determinism on the
behaviors in men (beliefs, norms, etc.) that characterize
to the
culture as a vital secondary medium (being the primary natural medium of
man the nature). The second vital medium of man would be culture (the
to live
in society); and it is here where man is going to develop those needs
secondary, derived from living in society, which are imposed on him by the
own
society.
For Malinowski, it is not only the individual who depends on the group, but also
the group and its members also depend on the development of the whole
material.
There is an interaction between how the individual satisfies their needs in the
society and how society is evolving to provide satisfaction to all those
needs. This causes behavioral changes within the individual.
The
needs are met in groups with collaboration and it is parallel to achievements
technological (inventions, devices, achievements) and theories that are being put into
march
to meet those needs. Malinowski does not focus on the individual, but
in
the institution since it can be studied as a social fact and how it functions
said
institution.
What will be the task of the ethnographer according to Malinowski? Explain the function of
a
Social fact is to show how it meets needs, how it satisfies
the
needs as an imperative for the survival of the community and the
perpetuation of culture. It reduces everything to operational terms that is
find the function of each of those structures of each of those
facts
social. Malinowski focuses his studies on explaining and making economics the
basis of the whole social and not taking into account in their analysis everything
that which, in opposition to the reality of the facts, would be nothing more than
of
an ideal (does not consider the symbolic reality that is part of the
institutions).
In the economy, you will find a function for everything that satisfies everything.
need, but does not fully explain everything that would entail an ideal
of
functioning or all the subjective theory. Look for those common interests that
van
to serve as unifiers in the functioning of this society that focuses on
study. Economics would be the best field of study to develop your
theory
functional because, within the economy, everything that surrounds it (division of
work, distribution of the products, etc.)
Builders of Otherness. Boivin text.
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The object of anthropology is defined as the study of otherness.

cultural
of cultural otherness or cultural diversity. its technique: observation
participant. To understand what an anthropologist does, one must take into account the
historical context in which anthropology developed, its relationship with the
scientific field in general (the location of that science in relation to the
others)
and the relationships between the parts that constitute it: object, theory, method, and
techniques.

There are three constitutive moments of anthropology:

1. emerges at the end of the 19th century where anthropology was established as
science and the theory that managed to dominate anthropological discourse was the
evolutionism.

2. It develops between the two world wars and is characterized by the

the emergence of a variety of theories that shared the attempt to
explain cultural diversity.

3. begins after the Second World War, in which the theories

previous ones still remain dominant but the others appear
anthropologies, non-Western ones that propose alternatives.

Anthropology is a construction. It was established as a science from

build explanations about cultural otherness.

Late 19th century: it is formalized as a science. The industrial revolution.

generates new differences, of class, of ethnicity, and social problems. the
A fundamental issue of social sciences was to explain those changes.
the difference is established as an object of scientific explanation. the first theory
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scientific about the difference was evolutionism. The theory of evolution
is constituted as such based on the application of the comparative method and
about the basis of its object: man, who possessed duality; man both
in body as spirit. primitive societies, not complex, not
developed, without history and without State came to constitute as the
object specific to anthropology.
2. between the two world wars: crisis of evolutionism as the only
paradigm and separation of science from national schools; they appear
structuralism and functionalism. they criticized the techniques used by the
evolutionists, arguing that the data with which anthropology had to
to manage, Debian must be obtained firsthand. In this way, it is invented
participant observation as a privileged technique of anthropology, it
What does the transfer of the researcher to other societies imply? The second
the criticism was regarding the comparative method. the evolutionists were
criticized for being ethnocentric. it was replaced by relativism, whose
extreme postulate implies that it is impossible to compare since each culture
it's different.
3. after the second war: two transformations occur; the first is
the modification of primitive societies, on the other hand, modifies the
practices of anthropologists regarding primitive societies, the
transformations were: physical disappearance, quantitative decrease
and accelerated by its members, through war, diseases, genocide.
and on the other hand the qualitative transformation, mainly towards forms
western aspects of life and the consequent cultural disappearance resulting from the
pressure from the West. This process was called cultural genocide.
those forced changes were seen as the result of a process
of action coming from the Western world, colonization, now
recognized by the dominant anthropology. some societies
They completely disappeared, others disappeared physically and
others transformed into new nations.
In this sense, Levi-Strauss, founder of structuralism in Anthropology,
it will argue that it is necessary to start from the particles and fragments of
remnants that can still be gathered from the lifestyles of these peoples
primitives. It proposes three levels of anthropological work:
A first level in which the anthropologist aims to isolate and describe.
the models that a people uses to perceive, relate to, and interpret their
experiences. It is the moment when the anthropologist conducts the ethnography
A second level where the anthropologist compares the content and the
organization of cultural systems to analyze, interpret and explain
diversity. It is the time of ethnology, the comparative study of the
different cultures:
A third level, that of structural anthropology, in which the
anthropologist arrives, through the construction of formal models to the
basic axioms, to the constant and common structures to all the
cultures.
The anthropological gaze fragments, specialties arise: anthropology.
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economic, political, urban, etc. The object and the theory change, and they are added together.
native anthropologists, who studied their own societies.
Otherness and the Anthropological Question: Krotz
The word anthropology has diverse meanings in different languages.
Origins of the anthropological question
There are many anthropological questions, questions about being human or
about
the human being.
Otherness: experience and category
The anthropological question is the attempt to make explicit cultural contact,
to make it conscious, to reflect on it, to resolve it symbolically.
As far as a general statement about the contacts is possible
cultural, this consists of the demonstration that the anthropological question to
dealing here has its decisive moment in the category of alterity. This
otherness
otherness is not synonymous with differentiation. it has to do with the experience of
the
strange, only the confrontation with the unknown singularities of the other
group
human provides the experience of the foreign, of the truly strange
said.
It is directed towards those who seem so similar to oneself that all
diversity
observable can be compared to the usual, and yet they are
tan
different that the comparison becomes a theoretical and practical challenge.
Alterity (Krotz): the relationship with the other through a bond of wonder based on the
awareness we have of our own. This is not possible without ethnocentrism.
How the other is constructed based on the strangeness of a question
anthropological
(Why is the other, who is like me, different? It arises when recognizing the other.
how
It influences the astonishment.
Otherness: it is about recognizing the other as a different individual, who
no
is part of its own community.
Ethnography: the description of cultures.
Ethnology: the theorization about the descriptions of cultures.
Ethnocentrism: Western society as an ideal of progress, like the
developed.
Throughout the text, the author analyzes how that relationship is created. But first we
Note that in the first section we have to take care of the word itself.
anthropology,
Of
Indeed, there is an "anthropological question" that has been asked over and over again
since the beginning of human life on the planet. To begin with, I could perhaps
to represent oneself with the seemingly disparate situations of the meeting of
human groups of the Paleolithic, of the journeys and of the imperial expansion of
power.
This is precisely the site of the anthropological question: for equality in the
difference and the difference in equality. But insofar as it is possible.
to do
a general statement about the contact between cultures -at least in the
scope
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Western culture is found in the demonstration that the issue
disciplinary action has its decisive moment in the category of otherness. For
Krotz the
otherness means a special kind of difference, it has to do with the
experience
of strangeness, refers to landscapes and climates, or to plants and animals, forms and
colors, smells, and sounds. But only the confrontation with the
particularities
until then unknown to other human beings - language, customs
daily activities, parties, religious ceremonies or anything else - provides the
true experience of strangeness. For the author, otherness is the
category
central to a specific anthropological question.
In the category of otherness, the other -in the sense described by Krotz-, does not...
consider it as such in relation to its individual particularities, and less
still
with the "natural" ones, but as a member of a community, as a bearer of
a
culture, as an heir to a tradition as a representative of a
collectivity
as a nodal point of a permanent communication structure, as
started
in a symbolic universe, as a participant of a form of life different from
others,
as a result and creator of a specific, unique, and unrepeatable historical process.
Al
another individual, to the institutional or ideal material product isolated from a culture or
of
an individual in the community will always be accompanied by the group of the other
culture, and each individual element will be seen from this cultural totality.
The three sources of ethnological reflection: Levi-Strauss
Ethnology studies man. It deals with societies
what,
while they are as human as any others, they differ from those studied by the
classical or oriental humanities, in which their majority do not know the
writing
and few have representative monuments of animated figures. The
originality
from ethnology is that, being a human science, it cannot allow itself to be
isolate from the natural and social sciences with which several of its own
methods have so many things in common. Ethnology is a young science.
Ethnological concerns date back to a recent date, and in their
modern expression finds itself at a crossroads: it arises from the encounter of
various
heterogeneous currents of thought.
The most important of these influences is directly related to the
discovery of the New World. This forced the confrontation of two
sisters of humanity, but strange in their norms of material life and
spiritual. The American man had not received the revelation of Christ, but
offered an image that evoked reminiscences of a golden age and of a
primitive life that presented itself in and out of sin. The existence of
man
American had not been anticipated by anyone. It is on American soil that the
man begins to contemplate the problem of himself, and to experience it in
I
one's own flesh. America has occupied a privileged place for so long in
Anthropological studies for having placed humanity before its first
great case of conscience. Europe knew that there are other forms of life
economic, other political regimes, other moral uses and other beliefs
religious. From then on, everything could be called into question. Anthropology
it had become common even before reaching the level of the
theoretical studies.
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The second impulse that ethnological concerns were to experience

it proceeds from the political and ideological reaction that follows the French Revolution
y
to the ruins left by the Napoleonic conquests. At the beginning of the 19th century
the
traditional European society is in a state of deep
disintegration and disorder. In light of this, the aim is to define man's destiny
rather based on a past transfigured by the nostalgia of an order
ancient, which for a future impossible to determine. This point of view, that of
the
principles of romanticism, modifies and enriches ethnographic inquiry. The
modifies by making primitivism the search not for a starting point of
human progress, but rather a privileged period in which man had
enjoyed virtues that have disappeared today. It enriches by introducing
folkloric concerns. At the beginning of the 19th century, social pessimism and the
the awakening of nationalities directs research towards a past
distant
circumscribed in space and laden with meaning. Simultaneously there was
a
important transformation. It was contradictory to conceive the course of history
how
in decline when technical and scientific progress was evident. For
to maintain the pessimistic position, it was necessary to place human evolution in
a
distinct land. With the growth of societies and multiplication of
relationships are
undermines the physical integrity of human groups.
One of the decisive events in 19th-century science is the theory
Darwin's evolutionist, which provides a global interpretation of history
biological within which documents related to man could
find your
appropriate place and receive its full significance. The conception of an evolution
gradual of living species, operating over immense periods
Geological, it suggests thinking similarly about the history of the human species.
The
osteological documents are now seen as testimonies of slow evolution,
y
upon seeing that prehistoric tools resemble those used in primitive villages
contemporaries, one can see in them the image of the different states through which
the
humanity had wandered. The objects of the savages, the descriptions of
sus
customs, etc. They are described and classified to develop a coherent vision
of
the different stages.
Ethnology, like the natural sciences and following their example,
can discover the constant relationships existing between the phenomena. This
revolution does not mean a break with the past, but rather the integration, at the level of
scientific synthesis, of all the currents of thought whose action
we have
revealed. Evolutionism can be presented as a scientific theory because
keeps the ambition to discover the starting point and the meaning of the
evolution
human, as well as to arrange the different stages in order. Likewise
come
that humanity is not transformed exclusively according to the scheme of
Darwin
but ethnology consists of the transmission of techniques, the diffusion of inventions,
fusion of beliefs and customs. Ethnology in the penultimate quarter of
the 19th century is based on hybrid and ambiguous characters, which create
to converge in it the aspirations of science, philosophy, and history.
concept of culture according to Levi-Strauss: The structural anthropology of Lévi-
Strauss
define culture as a communication system governed by exchange
of
the most valued treasures of humanity: words, that is, language;
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the
women, which implies the kinship system and material goods, that
they represent economic systems.
The reason for human progress: Morgan
Man could not have reached a civilized state had he not made it his own.
elements of civilization
Change of condition from Savagery to Barbarism to Civilization (in each period)
the progress made, the discoveries, inventions and
institutions)
Modern civilization recovered and assimilated everything that was valuable in the
ancient civilizations
The Roman and Greek civilizations largely incorporated inventions
y
discoveries and the institutions of the period before barbarism, and on the other
they rested on them.
The barbarian man had developed and possessed all the elements of the
civilization.
The use of writing is an unequivocal proof of the beginning of civilization.
The poems of Homer indicate the moment when civilization is introduced.
Among the Greeks, they possess an ethnological value that enhances their other qualities.
For example, the Iliad includes the oldest and most detailed exposition of
progress
of man. It presents us with the first comprehensive picture of Aryan society,
still
in the stadium of barbarism, marking the progress already achieved and its notes.
This shows us that the Greeks knew many things before delving in.
in
the civilization.
Taking these poems as a guide, we discard knowledge and experience.
humanity the invention of poetry.
From this point of view looking back, through the midpoint of barbarism,
is
harder to distinguish the relative order in which institutions have appeared,
inventions and discoveries
The total of the conquests during the medieval period was lower than that of the
next
but it was very important to integrate the domestication of animals, with which
It could be possible for permanent subsistence, and the trials with metals.
If we delve into the lower period, we discard the acquisitions.
human
the confederation based on people and tribes, the mode of social organization,
between
others.
As we move forward in the order of time and evolution, the
inventions become simpler and more direct in their relationship with the
primary needs, and the institutions resemble more the way
elemental
of the people based on consanguinity, under a leader of their own choice.
If the magnitude of man's achievements in the three is valued fairly
subperiods of barbarism are estimated to be immense due to intellectual development and
moral that necessarily applies.
In such a primordial condition, when humanity was learning to use

fire, the man appears as a child in the development of this, and as a

possessor of a brain that has not penetrated a single concept.
From inventions and creations, the human mind grew and became
development.

Some philosophers and poets indicate that man began in a state of

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extremity in which I advanced slowly and successively. The road was

marked by a succession of inventions and discoveries.
The problem of the reason for this progress is the duration of the different periods.
ethnic. Human progress has been realized through theory of the
geometric progression When comparing the conquests of each period,
himself
You can see that while the first period progress was very slow and the last
faster, the sum could have been greater in the first one.
The progress of man in the period of savagery was greater in degree to
human progress
The period of savagery lasted longer than the period of barbarism, and
this
longer than civilization.
60% savagery
20% lower period of barbarism
15% average and above period of barbarism
5% civilization (begins with writing)
The experience of man in savagery was longer than all of his
subsequent existence, and that the period of civilization encompasses only a
small faction of human life.
Savagery was the formative period of the human genre starting from the
nothing
until achieving a permanent livelihood.
The conquests of savagery are not of a particularly
decollating
but they represent an astonishing amount of work, before reaching a
degree
of reasonable perfection.
The inferiority of the savage man in intellectual and moral scale is found
substantially demonstrated by the remains of the ancient technique in
instruments
of stone and bone, and by its osteological remains and by cave life in
certain areas.
The great period of barbarism is marked by four important events:
The domestication of animals
The discovery of cereals
The use of stone in architecture
The invention of the iron casting process
Barbarism ends with the production of great barbarians.
The science of culture. Tylor
The science of culture
Culture or civilization in a broad ethnographic sense is that complex whole
what
it includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, law, the
customs
and any other habits and abilities acquired by man in
how much
member of society." The importance of this definition, the importance to
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symbolic aspect, and the fact that man, by merely being social, has
culture, it is a unique culture, the culture, not cultures.
His method is a retroactive comparative one, that is to say it disregards the context.
historical. It diaconizes the synchronic. It is comparative because of similar causes,
similar effects.
The reason is shared by all human beings and knowledge is
gradual
and cumulative.
He uses travelers' accounts and classical sources as sources (this point)
I put it in practicals, I can't find it in the text) and archaeology. It should be clarified.
what
although Taylor is grouped with the 'armchair anthropologists', he promoted in his
disciples the fieldwork.
Regarding the philosophy of history, Tylor clarifies: "the philosophy of history, which
explain the phenomena of human life in the past and predict the future
referring to the general laws, it is actually a matter that largely
measure, in the current state of our knowledge, is difficult to grasp
even for a genius who has the help of extensive research
is
that is why he proposes anthropology as a segment of this philosophy of the
history, within it, but in a more limited framework.
For this author, a group of savages is like any other, and he says that
any museum can prove it. In the sense that any tip of
an arrow is the same as any other.
Use classification, analogy between the calcification of plants and animals
(for
species, genera, like Linnaeus) and the spread of civilization.
In their studies, the individual takes precedence over the social. Collective action is the
sum of individual actions.
Survival is about processes, customs, opinions, etc., that the force
of
the custom has transported to a situation in society different from that one
in
that had an original home and, in this way, they remain as evidence and
examples of the ancient cultural situation from which it has evolved
new.