Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Bozilovic, Nikola

Titel

Context of culture: Critique of the primitive mind

Ist Teil von

• Filozofija i društvo (Zbornik radova), 2010, Vol.21 (2), p.71-95

Ort / Verlag

Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The author of this paper has the intention to reach the new meaning and sense of the primitive mentality by analyzing it in early social communities. He also wants to point out the possible reflections of the spirit and consciousness of our ancestors on us, here and now. The first part of the paper is dedicated to a critical deliberation on anthropological conflicts which have arisen concerning the reasoning power of the so-called primitives. The crucial question lies in the following: Is the difference between the ?primitive? and the ?civilized? mentality fundamental or is it possible only to a certain degree. The author takes the notion of primitive mentality through time and points to the medieval understandings, which are occupied by teratological themes, then to the renaissance comprehension, which relies on the first experiential observations, and, finally, to the enlightenment ideas of exotic peoples out of which the myth of ?the good savage? is born. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries introduce the notions of ?people?s character? and ?national spirit?. The opinions are polarized, on the one hand of ethnocentrism, carried by the prejudice of people and ethnic groups and, on the other hand, of cultural relativism, based on the understanding and appreciation of cultural differences. In the end, the author also recognizes the modern primitive man, one who is not ready to deal with the challenges of his age. The modern primitive recalls the spirits of the past, the surviving and anachronic models of behavior, unaware of the fact that these are the same models that he has ascribed to ?savages?. However, while such thinking and acting was justified by the cultural level at which our ancestors had lived, the mental frame of the contemporary primitives is significantly in contrast with the high level of civilization development. Autor ovoga clanka imao je intenciju da se analizom primitivnog mentaliteta ranih drustvenih zajednica probije do novog znacenja i smisla toga pojma. Takodje i da ukaze na eventualne refleksije duha i svesti nasih predaka na nas, ovde i sada. Prvi deo rada posvecen je kritickom promisljanju antropoloskih sporova koji su nastali povodom rasudne moci takozvanih primitivaca. Krucijalno pitanje je u sledecem: da li je razlika izmedju ?primitivnog? i ?civilizovanog? mentaliteta fundamentalna ili je ona moguca samo u odredjenom stepenu. Pojam primitivnog mentaliteta autor provodi kroz vreme i ukazuje na shvatanja u srednjem veku, koja su zaokupljena teratoloskim temama, zatim na renesansno poimanje, koje se oslanja na prva iskustvena zapazanja i, najzad, na prosvetiteljske predstave o egzoticnim narodima iz kojih je rodjen mit o ?dobrom divljaku?. Devetnaesti i dvadeseti vek uvode u igru pojmove ?narodnog karaktera? i ?nacionalnog duha?. Polarizuju se misljenja, s jedne strane etnocentrizma, nosena predrasudama o ljudima i etnickim grupama i, s druge strane, kulturnog relativizma, zasnovana na razumevanju i uvazavanju kulturnih razlika. Autor na kraju prepoznaje i savremenog primitivnog coveka, onoga koji nije spreman da se suoci sa izazovima svoga doba. Savremeni primitivac priziva duhove proslosti, prezivele i anahrone modele ponasanja, ne sluteci da su to oni isti modeli koje je pripisivao ?divljacima?. Medjutim, dok je kulturni stadijum na kome su ziveli nasi preci opravdavao takvo razmisljanje i postupanje, mentalni sklop danasnjih primitivaca bitno odudara od visokog nivoa civilizacijskog razvoja.