The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911Boas, Franz
Science
The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911
Boas, Franz
Ethnopsychology; Race
The same observation may be made in primitive mythology. The same kind
of tales are current over enormous areas, but the mythological use to
which they are put is locally quite different. Thus an ordinary
adventure relating to the exploits of some animal may sometimes be made
use of to explain some of its peculiar characteristics. At other times
it may be made use of to explain certain customs, or even the origin of
certain constellations in the sky. There is not the slightest doubt in
my mind that the tale as such is older than its mythological
significance. The characteristic feature of the development of the
nature myth is, first, that the tale has associated itself with attempts
to explain cosmic conditions (this has been referred to before); and,
secondly, that when primitive man became conscious of the cosmic
problem, he ransacked the entire field of his knowledge until he
happened to find something that could be fitted to the problem in
question, giving an explanation satisfactory to his mind. While the
classification of concepts, the types of association, and the resistance
to change of automatic acts, developed unconsciously, many of the
secondary explanations are due to conscious reasoning.
I will give still another example of a form of association
characteristic of primitive society. In modern society, social
organization, including the grouping of families, is essentially based
on blood-relationship and on the social functions performed by each
individual. Except in so far as the Church concerns itself with birth,
marriage, and death, there is no connection between social organization
and religious belief. These conditions are quite different in primitive
society, where we find an inextricable association of ideas and customs
relating to society and to religion. As in art form tends to associate
itself with ideas entirely foreign to it, so the social unit tends to
associate itself with various impressions of nature, particularly with
the divisions of the animal world. This form of association seems to me
the fundamental trait of totemism as found among many American tribes,
as well as in Australia, Melanesia, and in Africa. I have described
before its characteristic trait, which consists in a peculiar connection
that is believed to exist between a certain class of objects, generally
animals, and a certain social group. Further analysis shows very clearly
that one of the underlying ideas of totemism is the existence of
definite groups of man that are not allowed to intermarry, and that the
limitations of these groups are determined by considerations of
blood-relationship. The religious ideas found in totemism refer to the
personal relation of man to certain classes of supernatural powers, and
the typical trait of totemism is the association of certain kinds of
supernatural power with certain social groups. This granted, the
establishment of association with the supernatural world becomes at
least intelligible.
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