Classic two-volume work, first published in 1871, was highly influential in the establishment of cultural evolution as the basis for anthropologic studies. Volume II focuses on social evolution, language, and myth.
This classic is organized as follows: Introduction Part I Chapter I. Collective Representations in Primitives’ Perceptions and the Mystical Character of Such Chapter II. The Law of Participation Chapter III. The Functioning of Prelogical Mentality Part II Chapter IV. The Mentality of Primitives in Relation to the Languages They Speak Chapter V. Prelogical Mentality in Relation to Numeration Part III Chapter VI. Institutions in Which Collective Representations Governed by the Law of Participation Are Involved (I) Chapter VII. Institutions in Which Collective Representations Governed by the Law of Participation Are Involved (II) Chapter VIII. Institutions in Which Collective Representations Governed by the Law of Participation Are Involved (III) Part IV Chapter IX. The Transition to the Higher Mental Types
Tylor's ideology is best described in his most famous work, the two-volume Primitive Culture. The first volume, The Origins of Culture, deals with various aspects of ethnography including social evolution, linguistics, and myth. The second volume, titled Religion in Primitive Culture, deals mainly with his interpretation of animism. On the first page of Primitive Culture, Tylor provides an all-inclusive definition which is one of his most widely recognized contributions to anthropology: "Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Primitive Culture remained the pinnacle of Tylor's career, important not only for its thorough study of human civilization and contributions to the emergent field of anthropology, but also for its undeniable influence on a handful of young scholars.
In this acclaimed book, Torgovnick explores the obsessions, fears, and longings that have produced Western views of the primitive. Crossing an extraordinary range of fields (anthropology, psychology, literature, art, and popular culture),Gone Primitivewill engage not just specialists but anyone who has ever worn Native American jewelry, thrilled to Indiana Jones, or considered buying an African mask. "A superb book; and--in a way that goes beyond what being good as a book usually implies--it is a kind of gift to its own culture, a guide to the perplexed. It is lucid, usually fair, laced with a certain feminist mockery and animated by some surprising sympathies."--Arthur C. Danto, New York Times Book Review "An impassioned exploration of the deep waters beneath Western primitivism. . . . Torgovnick's readings are deliberately, rewardingly provocative."--Scott L. Malcomson,Voice Literary Supplement
Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.