ANTH 1a Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Rationality, Evangelicalism, Formal System
8 May 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Hmong: body is an open system linking social relations to the self . Body enmeshed in a larger world of spirits, not secularized, private domain. Shamans: part time religious practitioners with special abilities to connect individual with supernatural, part of local community, gain powers through journey: illness or isolation. Txiv neeb: potential collaborators in the healing process. Distinction between body and mind, matter and spirit, physical and spiritual world. Nothing could be more cartesian than western medicine . Disenchantment: modern/secular view, separation of physical and spiritual worlds. Natural world consists of discrete entities without intrinsic purpose or meaning. Often the assumption that truth lies only in immediately observable realities. Max weber"s secularization thesis: as societies became more rationalized, they will become less religious -> attitudes toward religion will echo changes in society. Government based on separation of public and private life. Secularization: decreasing significance of of religion in society.
