Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of MankindWundt, Wilhelm Max
Science
Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
Wundt, Wilhelm Max
Ethnopsychology
Thus, totemism is directly connected with the belief in souls--that
is to say, with _animism_. It represents that branch of animism which
exercised a long-continuing influence on the tribal organization as
well as on the beliefs of peoples. But before turning to these final
aspects of totemism and their further developments, it is necessary to
consider another group of ideas which, in their beginnings, occupied
an important place within the circle of totemic beliefs. The ideas to
which I refer are those connected with the custom of _taboo_.
10. THE LAWS OF TABOO.
It is a significant fact that 'totem' and 'taboo' are concepts for
which our cultural languages possess no adequate words. Both these
terms are taken from the languages of so-called natural peoples,
'totem' from an idiom of the North American Indians, and 'taboo'
from the Polynesian languages. The word 'totem' is as yet relatively
uncommon in literature, with the exception of books on ethnology and
folk psychology; the word 'taboo,' on the other hand, is much in use.
A thing is called taboo when it may not be touched, or when it must
be avoided for some reason, whether because of its peculiar sanctity
or contrariwise because its harmful influence renders it 'impure,'
defiling every one who comes into contact with it. Thus, two opposing
ideas are combined in the conception of taboo: the idea of the sacred
as something to be avoided because of its sanctity, and that of the
impure or loathsome, which must be avoided because of its repulsive or
harmful nature. These ideas combine in the conception of _fear_. There
is, indeed, one sort of fear which we call _awe_, and another termed
_aversion_. Now, the history of taboo ideas leaves no doubt that in
this case awe and aversion sprang from the same source. That which
aroused aversion at a later age was in the totemic period chiefly an
object of awe, or, at any rate, of fear--that is, of a feeling in which
aversion and awe were still undifferentiated. That which is designated
by the simplest word [_Scheu_] is also earliest in origin; awe
[_Ehrfurcht_] and aversion [_Abscheu_] developed from fear [_Scheu_].
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