An Analysis of Mary Douglas's Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and TabooAuthor :
Paperback
Published : Wednesday 21 February 2018
You may also like ...
by
Paperback
21 Feb 2018
>>
€7.83
Extended stock - Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Paperback
15 Jul 2017
>>
€7.83
Extended stock - Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Paperback
21 Feb 2018
>>
€7.83
Extended stock - Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Paperback
22 Feb 2018
>>
€7.83
Extended stock - Dispatch 5-7 days
Description
Mary Douglas is an outstanding example of an evaluative thinker at work. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, she delves in great detail into existing arguments that portray traditional societies as evolving from savage beliefs in magic, to religion, to modern science, then explains why she believes those arguments are wrong. She also adeptly chaperones readers through a vast amount of data, from firsthand research in the Congo to close readings of the Old Testament, and analyzes it in depth to provide evidence that traditional and Western religions have more in common than the first comparative religion scholars and early anthropologists thought. First evaluating her scholarly predecessors by marshalling their arguments, Douglas identifies their main weakness: that they dismiss traditional societies and their religions by identifying their practices as magic, thereby creating a chasm between savages who believe in magic and sophisticates who practice religion.
Reviews