scholarly journals Animism: Comparing Durkheim and Chidester’s analyses of EB Tylor’s theory of religion

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan M. Strijdom

The purpose of this research study was to compare the analyses of the anthropologist Edward Tylor’s animist theory of religion in the work of two major scholars of religion. At the beginning of the 20th century, Durkheim refuted Tylor’s classical explanation of the origin of religion, before he would proceed to develop his own sociological explanation. At the turn of the 21st century, from a postcolonial South African location, David Chidester offered a critical analysis of the triple mediation under colonial and imperial conditions that made Tylor’s evolutionary theory possible. By foregrounding definitions, making arguments explicit and comparing these two assessments, the two analyses shed light on each other as well as allowed us to view the issue of animism in a new light. This article concluded by highlighting points that emerged and need continuing attention in the academic study of religion.Contribution: This article, as part of a collection on re-readings of major theorists of religion, offers a comparison of Durkheim and Chidester’s analyses of Tylor’s classical animist theory of religion. By comparison, the analyses shed light on each other and on the theory of animism itself, highlighting critical issues that deserve the continuing focus of students of religion.

Author(s):  
John Breen

In January 2010, the Supreme Court delivered a historic verdict of unconstitutionality in a case involving Sorachibuto, a Shinto shrine in Sunagawa city, Hokkaido. All of the national newspapers featured the case on their front pages. As the case makes abundantly clear, issues of politics and religion, politics and Shinto, are alive and well in 21st century Japan. In this essay, I seek to shed light on the fraught relationship between politics and Shinto from three perspectives. I first analyze the Sorachibuto case, and explain what is at stake, and why it has attracted the attention it has. I then contextualize it, addressing the key state-Shinto legal disputes in the post war period: from the 1970s through to the first decade of the 21st century. Here my main focus falls on the state, and its efforts to cultivate Shinto. In the final section, I shift that focus to the Shinto establishment, and explore its efforts to reestablish with a succession of post LDP administrations the sort of intimacy, which Shinto enjoyed with the state in the early 20th century.


Author(s):  
Gunta Plūksna

The introduction outlines the problem: the views about the world outlook of the humankind changed radically from the verge of 19/20th century to the verge of the 20/21st century; the old paradigms must be changed to the new ones, but the relevant concepts are just developing. It expresses itself also in so called anthropological turn, when a person changes uncontrollably, rapidly and dangerously taking over the most important place in the global world system. Symbol is as a link between a word and an action, and it is an instrument for understanding the world, and a person plays an important role in it. The first section discusses the world outlook of Russian religious philosopher P. Florensky from the point of view of symbolism. It is based on the fundamentals of his world outlook: antinomy, life, the Unified. The second section is devoted to creativity in his life, which in an organic way links P. Florensky’s understanding about the world-outlook and life. The conclusions stress the contemporary aspects in P. Florensky’s symbolism expressed as: 1) spirituality; 2) aesthetics; 3) consubstantiality; 4) the dialogue with the Unified; 5) creativity in life. The research methods: hermeneutic and semiotic analysis of P. Florensky’s texts, critical analysis of the scientific literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 01027
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Dormus

The goal of the paper is to shed light on the problem of coeducation on a Poland in the European backdrop in 19th-21st century. An excellent source for the analysis of this topic is, in particular, the 19th- and 20th- century pedagogical and female press, documents of educational authorities, school reports. Results and conclusion: During the late 19th and early 20th century, coeducation was − in all of Europe − a source of controversy, resulting in a public discussion. The first coeducational secondary schools in the Polish territories were established over the course of the First World War. Coeducation was widely adopted after the Second World War, but the question of whether coeducation brings more benefits or drawbacks remains open for debate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf J. Siebert ◽  
◽  
Michael R. Ott ◽  

The paper traces the development from the medieval, traditional union, through the modern disunion, toward a possible post-modern reunion of the sacred and the profane. It concentrates on the modern disunion and conflict between the religious and the secular, revelation and enlightenment, faith and autonomous reason in the Western world and beyond. It deals specifically with Christianity and the modern age, particularly liberalism, socialism and fascism of the 2Oth and the 21st centuries. The problematic inclination of Western Catholicism toward fascism, motivated by the fear of and hate against socialism and communism in the 20th century, and toward exclusive, authoritarian, and totalitarian populism and identitarianism in the 21st. century, is analyzed, compared and critiqued. Solutions to the problem are suggested on the basis of the Critical Theory of Religion and Society, derived from the Critical Theory of Society of the Frankfurt School. The critical theory and praxis should help to reconcile the culture wars which are continually produced by the modern antagonism between the religious and the secular, and to prepare the way toward post-modern, alternative Future III - the freedom of All on the basis of the collective appropriation of collective surplus value. Distribution and recognition problems are equally taken seriously.


2016 ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buzgalin ◽  
A. Kolganov

The authors, basing on a critical analysis of the experience of planning during the 20th century in a number of countries of Europe and Asia, and also on the lessons from the economics of "real socialism", set out to substantiate their conclusions on the advisability of "reloading" this institution. The aim is to create planning mechanisms, suited to the new economy, that incorporate forecasting, projections, direct and indirect selective regulation and so forth into integral programs of economic development and that set a vector of development for particular limited spheres of what remains on the whole a market economy. New planning institutions presuppose a supersession of the forms of bureaucratic centralism and a reliance on network forms of organization of the subject and process of planning.


Afghanistan ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Warwick Ball

The Silk Road as an image is a relatively new one for Afghanistan. It appeals to both the pre-Islamic and the perceived Islamic past, thus offering an Islamic balance to previous identities linked to Bamiyan or to the Kushans. It also appeals to a broader and more international image, one that has been taken up by many other countries. This paper traces the rise of the image of the Silk Road and its use as a metaphor for ancient trade to encompass all contacts throughout Eurasia, prehistoric, ancient and modern, but also how the image has been adopted and expanded into many other areas: politics, tourism and academia. It is argued here that the origin and popularity of the term lies in late 20th century (and increasingly 21st century) politics rather than any reality of ancient trade. Its consequent validity as a metaphor in academic discussion is questioned


Author(s):  
B. M. Shustov

During the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, space hazards multiplied, the most urgent of which is space debris. Professionals working in space are exposed to this hazard daily and are aware of it as a problem. Furthermore, increasing attention is being paid to the unpredictable behavior of the Sun, which produces the so-called space weather. The asteroid-comet hazard is considered as potentially having the most catastrophic consequences. No manifestations of biological hazard have yet been observed, although as space activities develop, it is becoming increasingly important. The appropriate time scale for astrophysical hazards is many millions of years, so from a practical perspective, they have no importance. This article briefly describes the main types of space hazards. The author analyzes the results of research and practical work in the field, both worldwide and specifically in Russia. Comparative analysis leads to the clear conclusion that a national program must be developed for the study of space hazards and to respond to space threats. This article is based on a report made by the author at the meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) on January 15, 2019.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 100206
Author(s):  
Connie A. Woodhouse ◽  
Rebecca M. Smith ◽  
Stephanie A. McAfee ◽  
Gregory T. Pederson ◽  
Gregory J. McCabe ◽  
...  

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