RLG100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Edward Burnett Tylor, Sigmund Freud
Document Summary
Evolved argument that religious sentiment begins in animism (difference between what is dead and alive) A living body has a soul/spirit, the aboriginals tylor studied brought this view and applied it to everything living" on the earth (ie: water has personification in a deity) Studied some of the oldest religious texts in existence, through this study he argued that ancient peoples were terrorized by natural forces of the world. Had a kind of reverence for the natural forces. Would address hymns to nature with hope of making the forces kindly disposed to human kind. Language has power of naming and shaping ideas and concepts. As soon as you name something you start to imbue it with personality. Through language we give form and personality to natural forces, this is how we came up with the idea of gods. Was a student of tylor, carried on same kind of work. Published 12 volumes on origins of religion, very influential.
