Psychological Anthropology, Philosophy - General & Miscellaneous, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Socio-Cultural Anthropology - General & Miscellaneous

Primitive Man as Philosopher

Name: Primitive Man as Philosopher
Author: Paul Radin
ISBN: 9780486424958

by Paul Radin, John Dewey

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Overview

Primitive Man as Philosopher by Paul Radin. Originally published in 1927. PREFACE: When a modern historian desires to study the civilization of any people, he regards it as a necessary preliminary that he divest himself, so far as possible, of all prejudice and bias. He realizes that differences between cultures exist, but he does not feel that it is necessarily a sign of inferiority that a people differs in customs from his own. There seems, how ever, to be a limit to what an historian treats as legitimate difference, a limit not always easy to determine. On the whole it may be said that he very naturally passes the same judgments that the majority of his fellow countrymen do. Hence, if some of the differences between admittedly civilized peoples often call forth unfavorable judgments or even provoke outbursts of horror, how much more must we expect this to be the case where the differences are of so funda mental a nature as those separating us from people whom we have been accustome

Synopsis

This classic anthropology text describes the belief systems of a variety of aboriginal cultures from around the world. Radin (affiliation not cited) quotes extensively from interviews he conducted, allowing the subjects to speak for themselves. They discuss topics such as magical rituals, right and wrong, fate, and the nature of personality. The volume is a reprint of the 1956 revised, enlarged Dover edition. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR