Anthropomorphizing The Cosmos

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Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos

Author : Prudence M. Rice
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1607328895
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos by : Prudence M. Rice

Download or read book Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos written by Prudence M. Rice and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2019-04-14 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos explores the sociocultural significance of more than three hundred Middle Preclassic Maya figurines uncovered at the site of Nixtun-Ch'ich' on Lake Petén Itzá in northern Guatemala. In this careful, holistic, and detailed analysis of the Petén lakes figurines—hand-modeled, terracotta anthropomorphic fragments, animal figures, and musical instruments such as whistles and ocarinas—Prudence M. Rice engages with a broad swath of theory and comparative data on Maya ritual practice. Presenting original data, Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos offers insight into the synchronous appearance of fired-clay figurines with the emergence of societal complexity in and beyond Mesoamerica. Rice situates these Preclassic Maya figurines in the broader context of Mesoamerican human figural representation, identifies possible connections between anthropomorphic figurine heads and the origins of calendrics and other writing in Mesoamerica, and examines the role of anthropomorphic figurines and zoomorphic musical instruments in Preclassic Maya ritual. The volume shows how community rituals involving the figurines helped to mitigate the uncertainties of societal transitions, including the beginnings of settled agricultural life, the emergence of social differentiation and inequalities, and the centralization of political power and decision-making in the Petén lowlands. Literature on Maya ritual, cosmology, and specialized artifacts has traditionally focused on the Classic period, with little research centering on the very beginnings of Maya sociopolitical organization and ideological beliefs in the Middle Preclassic. Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos is a welcome contribution to the understanding of the earliest Maya and will be significant to Mayanists and Mesoamericanists as well as nonspecialists with interest in these early figurines

Astronomy in the Origins of Religion

Author : Cometan
Publisher : Astronist Institution
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Astronomy in the Origins of Religion by : Cometan

Download or read book Astronomy in the Origins of Religion written by Cometan and published by Astronist Institution. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Official title: Do the prehistoric interactions between astronomy and religion form a distinct religious tradition? In the dissertation for his Master's of Arts degree from the University of Central Lancashire, Cometan introduced and thoroughly explored his theory of the existence of the oldest religious tradition based on astronomical observation which he titles the Astronic tradition, or Astronicism. In this work, which received a Distinction Grade of 87 following its examination, Cometan discovers that astronomy and religion were indeed intertwined in prehistoric and ancient times. Through archaeological evidence, Cometan makes the case for the existence of an Astronic religious tradition stretching back to the Upper Palaeolithic period of the Stone Age some 40,000 years ago. Key ideas of Cometan's dissertation work include astromorphism, astrolatry, astroglyphs, astromancy, astronomical religion, and the theory of an astronomical Urreligion (an original or primordial religion).

Keywords for Environmental Studies

Author : Joni Adamson
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814724442
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis Keywords for Environmental Studies by : Joni Adamson

Download or read book Keywords for Environmental Studies written by Joni Adamson and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2016-02-26 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces key terms, quantitative and qualitative research, debates, and histories for Environmental and Nature Studies Understandings of “nature” have expanded and changed, but the word has not lost importance at any level of discourse: it continues to hold a key place in conversations surrounding thought, ethics, and aesthetics. Nowhere is this more evident than in the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies. Keywords for Environmental Studies analyzes the central terms and debates currently structuring the most exciting research in and across environmental studies, including the environmental humanities, environmental social sciences, sustainability sciences, and the sciences of nature. Sixty essays from humanists, social scientists, and scientists, each written about a single term, reveal the broad range of quantitative and qualitative approaches critical to the state of the field today. From “ecotourism” to “ecoterrorism,” from “genome” to “species,” this accessible volume illustrates the ways in which scholars are collaborating across disciplinary boundaries to reach shared understandings of key issues—such as extreme weather events or increasing global environmental inequities—in order to facilitate the pursuit of broad collective goals and actions. This book underscores the crucial realization that every discipline has a stake in the central environmental questions of our time, and that interdisciplinary conversations not only enhance, but are requisite to environmental studies today. Visit keywords.nyupress.org for online essays, teaching resources, and more.

The Soul in the Stone

Author : Ashley Curtis
Publisher : Kommode Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3905574055
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (55 download)

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Book Synopsis The Soul in the Stone by : Ashley Curtis

Download or read book The Soul in the Stone written by Ashley Curtis and published by Kommode Verlag. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The currently unfolding ecological catastrophe is the result of more than just deforestation, fossil fuel extraction, and factory farming. Behind the immediate causes of the degradation of our environment lies something else: a deeply rooted but ultimately absurd understanding of our place in the universe. Through a series of encounters with a striking array of protagonists - from revolutionary physicists and embattled philosophers to subsistence hunters and Himalayan shamans - The Soul in the Stone exposes the incoherence of the barren, human-centered perspective dominant in most societies today. It recommends instead an alternative worldview: one that acknowledges and honors non-human experience and, precisely because it does, is both more logically consistent and more fulfilling. And might just save the planet.

Ancient Mythology of Modern Science

Author : Gregory Allen Schrempp
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773539891
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Mythology of Modern Science by : Gregory Allen Schrempp

Download or read book Ancient Mythology of Modern Science written by Gregory Allen Schrempp and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2012 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the nature of myth-making and its surprising appearance in popular science writing.

Conversing with the Planets

Author : Anthony F. Aveni
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Conversing with the Planets by : Anthony F. Aveni

Download or read book Conversing with the Planets written by Anthony F. Aveni and published by Crown. This book was released on 1992 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning professor takes readers on a guided tour of the stunning celestial discoveries of past cultures. Interweaving the astronomy, mythology, and anthropology of ancient peoples, Aveni shows how to discover the harmony between their beliefs and their study of the sky through naked-eye observations. 30 illustrations.

Metaphor and Discourse

Author : A. Musolff
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230594646
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Metaphor and Discourse by : A. Musolff

Download or read book Metaphor and Discourse written by A. Musolff and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributors present a coherent collection of work on the functioning of metaphor in public discourse and related discourse areas from a broadly cognitive-linguistic background, providing a state-of-the-art overview of research on the discursive grounding of metaphor from a cognitive-linguistic perspective.

Revisiting Mckeithen Weeden Island

Author : Prudence M. Rice
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 0817361146
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis Revisiting Mckeithen Weeden Island by : Prudence M. Rice

Download or read book Revisiting Mckeithen Weeden Island written by Prudence M. Rice and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2023-12-12 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassesses the ancient Indigenous McKeithen site in northern Florida in light of new data, analyses, and theories Revisiting McKeithen Weeden Island further illuminates an Indigenous Late Woodland (ca. AD 200-900) mound-and-village community in northern Florida that was first excavated in the late 1970s. Since then, some artifacts received additional analyses, and the topic of prechiefdom societies has been broadly reconsidered in anthropology and archaeology. These developments allow new perspectives on McKeithen's history and significance. Prudence M. Rice, a Mayanist who began her career at the University of Florida, revisits what is known about McKeithen and recontextualizes the 1970s excavations. Weeden Island and McKeithen are best known through mortuary mounds and mortuary ritual, mainly involving unusual pottery bird effigies. Rice discusses current theoretical trends in studies of ritual and belief systems and their relation to mound-building at McKeithen in early stages of developing societal complexity. Revisiting McKeithen Weeden Island serves as a masterful example of an esteemed archaeologist advancing the field through rethought and updated interpretations of the site and its significance, primarily through its pottery. Rice's case study ultimately also fosters understanding of later Mississippian society and other civilizations around the world at this time period. Archaeologists, anthropologists, and social historians as well as students and avocational readers will welcome Rice's insight.

Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change

Author : Lacey B. Carpenter
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000464946
Total Pages : 371 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change by : Lacey B. Carpenter

Download or read book Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change written by Lacey B. Carpenter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change offers new perspectives on the processes of social change from the standpoint of household archaeology. This volume develops new theoretical and methodological approaches to the archaeology of households pursuing three critical themes: household diversity in human residential communities with and without archaeologically identifiable houses, interactions within and between households that explicitly considers impacts of kin and non-kin relationships, and lastly change as a process that involves the choices made by members of households in the context of larger societal constraints. Encompassing these themes, authors explore the role of social ties and their material manifestations (within the house, dwelling, or other constructed space), how the household relates to other social units, how households consolidate power and control over resources, and how these changes manifest at multiple scales. The case studies presented in this volume have broader implications for understanding the drivers of change, the ways households create the contexts for change, and how households serve as spaces for invention, reaction, and/or resistance. Understanding the nature of relationships within households is necessary for a more complete understanding of communities and regions as these ties are vital to explaining how and why societies change. Taking a comparative outlook, with case studies from around the world, this volume will inform students and professionals researching household archaeology and be of interest to other disciplines concerned with the relationship between social networks and societal change.

Science, Bread, and Circuses

Author : Gregory Schrempp
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1492017043
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Science, Bread, and Circuses by : Gregory Schrempp

Download or read book Science, Bread, and Circuses written by Gregory Schrempp and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Science, Bread, and Circuses, Gregory Schrempp brings a folkloristic viewpoint to the topic of popular science, calling attention to the persistence of folkloric form, idiom, and worldview within the increasingly important dimension of popular consciousness defined by the impact of science. Schrempp considers specific examples of texts in which science interpreters employ folkloric tropes—myths, legends, epics, proverbs, spectacles, and a variety of gestures from religious tradition—to lend credibility and appeal to their messages. In each essay he explores an instance of science popularization rooted in the quotidian round: variations of proverb formulas in monumental measurements, invocations of science heroes like saints or other inspirational figures, the battle of mythos and logos in parenting and academe, how the meme has become embroiled in quasi-religious treatments of the problem of evil, and a range of other tropes of folklore drafted to serve the exposition of science. Science, Bread, and Circuses places the relationship of science and folklore at the very center of folkloristic inquiry by exploring a range of attempts to rephrase and thus domesticate scientific findings and claims in folklorically imbued popular forms.

Faces in the Clouds

Author : Stewart Elliott Guthrie
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190282746
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Faces in the Clouds by : Stewart Elliott Guthrie

Download or read book Faces in the Clouds written by Stewart Elliott Guthrie and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1995-04-06 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is universal human culture. No phenomenon is more widely shared or more intensely studied, yet there is no agreement on what religion is. Now, in Faces in the Clouds, anthropologist Stewart Guthrie provides a provocative definition of religion in a bold and persuasive new theory. Guthrie says religion can best be understood as systematic anthropomorphism--that is, the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman things and events. Many writers see anthropomorphism as common or even universal in religion, but few think it is central. To Guthrie, however, it is fundamental. Religion, he writes, consists of seeing the world as humanlike. As Guthrie shows, people find a wide range of humanlike beings plausible: Gods, spirits, abominable snowmen, HAL the computer, Chiquita Banana. We find messages in random events such as earthquakes, weather, and traffic accidents. We say a fire "rages," a storm "wreaks vengeance," and waters "lie still." Guthrie says that our tendency to find human characteristics in the nonhuman world stems from a deep-seated perceptual strategy: in the face of pervasive (if mostly unconscious) uncertainty about what we see, we bet on the most meaningful interpretation we can. If we are in the woods and see a dark shape that might be a bear or a boulder, for example, it is good policy to think it is a bear. If we are mistaken, we lose little, and if we are right, we gain much. So, Guthrie writes, in scanning the world we always look for what most concerns us--livings things, and especially, human ones. Even animals watch for human attributes, as when birds avoid scarecrows. In short, we all follow the principle--better safe than sorry. Marshalling a wealth of evidence from anthropology, cognitive science, philosophy, theology, advertising, literature, art, and animal behavior, Guthrie offers a fascinating array of examples to show how this perceptual strategy pervades secular life and how it characterizes religious experience. Challenging the very foundations of religion, Faces in the Clouds forces us to take a new look at this fundamental element of human life.

Breaking Images

Author : Gianluca Miniaci
Publisher : Oxbow Books
ISBN 13 : 1789259169
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis Breaking Images by : Gianluca Miniaci

Download or read book Breaking Images written by Gianluca Miniaci and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeological remains are ‘fragmented by definition’: apart from exceptional cases, the study of the human past takes into account mainly traces, ruins, discards, and debris of past civilizations. It is rare that things have been preserved as they were originally made and conceived in the past. However, not all the ancient fragmentary objects were the ‘leftovers’ from the past. A noticeable portion of them was part and parcel of the ancient materiality already in the form of a fragment or damaged item. In 2000, John Chapman, with his volume Fragmentation in Archaeology, attracted the attention of scholars on the need to reconsider broken artifacts as the result of the deliberate anthropic process of physical fragmentation. The phenomenon of fragmentation can be thus explored with more outcomes for a category of objects that played an important role inside the society: the figurines. Due to their portability and size, figurines are particularly entangled and engaged in social, spatial, temporal, and material relations, and – more than other artifacts – can easily accommodate acts of embodiment and dismemberment. The act of creation symmetrically also involves the act of destruction, which in turn is another act of creation, since from the fragmentation comes a new entity with a different ontology. Breaking contains the paradigms of life: creation and reparation, destruction and regeneration. The scope of this volume is to search for traces of any voluntary and intentional fragmentation of ancient artifacts, creating, improving, and sharpening the methods and principles for a scientific investigation that goes beyond single author impression or sensitivity. The comparative lens adopted in this volume can allow the reader to explore different fields taken from ancient societies of how we can address, assess, detect, and even discuss the action of breaking and mutilation of ancient figurines.

Radiant Circles

Author : Alder MoonOak
Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1803410639
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Radiant Circles by : Alder MoonOak

Download or read book Radiant Circles written by Alder MoonOak and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-30 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Radiant Circles is an examination of both Ecospirituality and the Church of all Worlds, a specific NeoPagan organisation inspired by a science fiction novel and founded by Oberon Zell, a practicing Wizard. The book ranges widely in its historical, cultural and theological exploration of the Church and discusses its role and place as both as a unique Neo-Pagan and futurist New Religious Movement.

Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands

Author : Brigitte Faugère
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
ISBN 13 : 1607329956
Total Pages : 419 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands by : Brigitte Faugère

Download or read book Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands written by Brigitte Faugère and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands, Latin American, North American, and European researchers explore the meanings and functions of two- and three-dimensional human representations in the Precolumbian communities of the Mexican highlands. Reading these anthropomorphic representations from an ontological perspective, the contributors demonstrate the rich potential of anthropomorphic imagery to elucidate personhood, conceptions of the body, and the relationship of human beings to other entities, nature, and the cosmos. Using case studies covering a broad span of highlands prehistory—Classic Teotihuacan divine iconography, ceramic figures in Late Formative West Mexico, Epiclassic Puebla-Tlaxcala costumed figurines, earth sculptures in Prehispanic Oaxaca, Early Postclassic Tula symbolic burials, Late Postclassic representations of Aztec Kings, and more—contributors examine both Mesoamerican representations of the body in changing social, political, and economic conditions and the multivalent emic meanings of these representations. They explore the technology of artifact production, the body’s place in social structures and rituals, the language of the body as expressed in postures and gestures, hybrid and transformative combinations of human and animal bodies, bodily representations of social categories, body modification, and the significance of portable and fixed representations. Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands provides a wide range of insights into Mesoamerican concepts of personhood and identity, the constitution of the human body, and human relationships with gods and ancestors. It will be of great value to students and scholars of the archaeology and art history of Mexico. Contributors: Claire Billard, Danièle Dehouve, Cynthia Kristan-Graham, Melissa Logan, Sylvie Peperstraete, Patricia Plunket, Mari Carmen Serra Puche, Juliette Testard, Andrew Turner, Gabriela Uruñuela, Marcus Winter

The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism

Author : Gabriella Airenti
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
ISBN 13 : 2889630382
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (896 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism by : Gabriella Airenti

Download or read book The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism written by Gabriella Airenti and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2019-10-04 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The attribution of human traits to non-humans - animals, artifacts or even natural events - is an attitude, deeply grounded in human mind. It is frequent to see children addressing dolls and figures as if they were alive. Adults often attribute mental states and emotions to animals. In everyday life humans speak of events such as fires as if they possessed some form of intentionality, a behavior sometimes shared also by scientists. Furthermore, a systematized form of anthropomorphism underlies most religions. The pervasiveness of this phenomenon makes it a particularly interesting object of psychological enquiry. Psychologists have set out to understand which aspects of human mind are involved in this behavior, its motivations and the circumstances favoring its enactment. Moreover, there is an ongoing debate among scientists about the merits or harm of anthropomorphism in the scientific study of animal behavior and in scientific discourse. Despite the interest and the specificity of the topic most of the relevant studies are scattered across disciplines and have not built a systematic research framework. This observation has motivated the collection of articles presented here, under the unifying perspective of the cognitive underpinnings of anthropomorphism. Within this general umbrella, the authors included in this e-book have explored the issues mentioned above from different points of view. From their work it emerges that far from being the result of naive beliefs, the exercise of anthropomorphism involves a multiplicity of mental abilities including perception and imagination. They also show that the context and the interactive situation are crucial to understanding this phenomenon. Some authors analyze the relationship between anthropomorphization and theory of mind abilities both in typical and atypical populations. Finally, others contributions have identified possible benefits deriving from the natural attitude to anthropomorphize, as a design philosophy for robots and artifacts in general, or as a useful heuristic in the scientific study of animal behavior.

Cosmos & Culture

Author : Steven J. Steven J. Dick
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781511948500
Total Pages : 612 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (485 download)

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Book Synopsis Cosmos & Culture by : Steven J. Steven J. Dick

Download or read book Cosmos & Culture written by Steven J. Steven J. Dick and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cosmic evolution, the idea that the universe and its constituent parts are constantly evolving, has become widely accepted only in the last 50 years. It is no coincidence that this acceptance parallels the span of the Space Age. Although cosmic evolution was first recognized in the physical universe early in the 20th century, with hints even earlier, the relationships among planets, stars, and galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself, became much better known through the discoveries by planetary probes and space telescopes in the latter half of the century. It was also during the last 50 years-a century after Darwin proposed that evolution by natural selection applies to life on our own planet-that researchers from a variety of disciplines began to seriously study the possibilities of extraterrestrial life and "the biological universe." Considering biology from this broader cosmological perspective has expanded biological thinking beyond its sample-of-one straightjacket, incorporating biology into cosmic evolution. Astrobiology is now a robust discipline even though it has yet to find any life beyond Earth. But there is a third component to cosmic evolution beyond the physical and the biological. Even if we only know of culture on one planet so far, cultural evolution has been an important part of cosmic evolution on Earth, and perhaps on many other planets. Moreover, it also dominates the other two forms of evolution in terms of its rapidity. Humans were not much different biologically 10,000 years ago, but one need only look around to see how much we have changed culturally. Yet, unlike the study of biological evolution, which has made great progress since Darwin's Origin of Species, the scientific study of cultural evolution languished after Darwin's death for the better part of a century. Only within the past few decades has significant progress been made, and concerned with advancing their fledging science, cultural evolutionists have yet to expand their thinking beyond their current planetary sample-of-one concerns. But if life and intelligence do exist beyond Earth, it is likely that culture will arise and evolve. In this volume authors with diverse backgrounds in science, history, and anthropology consider culture in the context of the cosmos, including the implications of the cosmos for our own culture.

To Become a God

Author : Michael J. Puett
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 1684170419
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (841 download)

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Book Synopsis To Become a God by : Michael J. Puett

Download or read book To Become a God written by Michael J. Puett and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evidence from Shang oracle bones to memorials submitted to Western Han emperors attests to a long-lasting debate in early China over the proper relationship between humans and gods. One pole of the debate saw the human and divine realms as separate and agonistic and encouraged divination to determine the will of the gods and sacrifices to appease and influence them. The opposite pole saw the two realms as related and claimed that humans could achieve divinity and thus control the cosmos. This wide-ranging book reconstructs this debate and places within their contemporary contexts the rival claims concerning the nature of the cosmos and the spirits, the proper demarcation between the human and the divine realms, and the types of power that humans and spirits can exercise. It is often claimed that the worldview of early China was unproblematically monistic and that hence China had avoided the tensions between gods and humans found in the West. By treating the issues of cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divinization in a historical and comparative framework that attends to the contemporary significance of specific arguments, Michael J. Puett shows that the basic cosmological assumptions of ancient China were the subject of far more debate than is generally thought.