HUM-10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Incest Taboo, Unconscious Mind
Document Summary
Disagrees w/ evolutionist approach (if so many people believe then it"s not an. Two purposes: to describe the most primitive form of religion and illusion -> it must be there) Santa vs. what we do everyday to survive. The sacred can be made profane and the other way around. Durkheim had to exclude magic from religion. Getting his info from baldwen spencer and frank gillin (wrote a book on the most primitive people around ) -> believed in totems. Society is the thing that they all share and therefore the function of religion is to bring people together. Worshiping the totem = worshiping the clan. Bruhl people are savages and are stuck in a primitive way of thinking. Thinking in terms of magic vs. scientific. Malinowski father of anthropology (an island"s religion) Discovered a great deal of magic in them growing their gardens. Shifted to focus on meaning (looking at symbols)
