Michael J Puett
Biographic Data
| ID | 6045627 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael J Puett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael J |
| FAMILY NAME | Puett |
| SIGNATURE | PUETT M J |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Modernity Narratives, Modernity Moments, and Belatedness
Ritual and the Subjunctive
This chapter begins with a serious consideration of the understandings of ritual in traditions that take it as central, especially Judaism and Confucianism. It argues that such traditions understand the world as fundamentally fractured and discontinuous, with ritual allowing us to live in it by creating temporary order through the construction of a performative, subjunctive world. This is a world “as if”, with ritual understood in its indexical q…
Ambiguity, Ambivalence, and Boundaries
This chapter turns to the capacities of the human mind that allow for the construction of the “as if” world of ritual, and begins to explore the ways such worlds allow us to deal with ambiguities and ambivalences. The material in this chapter, unlike most work on ritual, links individual psychology to ritual's broader social work. It looks at the development of “as if” worlds and ritual-like behaviors in children, from things like repeated bedtim…
Ritual, Play, and Boundaries
This chapter takes up the “as if” worlds of play. The first half discusses how the literature on play helps reveal important variations in the world of ritual by clarifying how ritual relates to notions of self and a social role. Special attention is paid to the work of Roger Caillois and Johan Huizinga on play. The analysis helps focus the idea of “ritual” more clearly by asking how it differs from play. The second half of the chapter continues …
Afterword
Ritual and Sincerity
This chapter turns directly to the tension between sincerity and ritual. Sincerity often appears as a reaction against the perceived hypocrisy of ritual; these reactions in turn tend to ritualize over time. Sincerity offers the world “as is” instead of ritual's “as if”, a world of discursive meanings and unique selves instead of repeated acts and fragmented worlds. Modernity has brought an especially powerful turn toward sincerity. One crucial im…
Movements of Ritual and Sincerity
This chapter looks at different cultural examples of the tensions between ritual and sincerity over time. First, it discusses the interplay of law and love, Judaism and Christianity, and ritual and sincerity in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Second, it looks at the history of architectural ornament, which is ritual-like in its repetitions and rhythms and in its concern with boundaries and framing. Here the ritual/sincerity tension plays out ty…
The Ambivalence of Creation
Introduction 1. Domesticating the landscape: notions of ancestors and innovation in the Bronze Age 2. The craft of humanity: debates over nature and culture in warring states China 3. Sages, ministers, and rebels: narratives of the emergence of the state 4. The creation of empire: the emergence and consolidation of imperial rule in China 5. The tragedy of creation: Sima Qian's reconstruction of the rise of empire in early China Conclusion Appendi…
To Become a God
To Become a God
The Ambivalence of Creation
Introduction 1. Domesticating the landscape: notions of ancestors and innovation in the Bronze Age 2. The craft of humanity: debates over nature and culture in warring states China 3. Sages, ministers, and rebels: narratives of the emergence of the state 4. The creation of empire: the emergence and consolidation of imperial rule in China 5. The tragedy of creation: Sima Qian's reconstruction of the rise of empire in early China Conclusion Appendi…
Ritual and the Subjunctive
This chapter begins with a serious consideration of the understandings of ritual in traditions that take it as central, especially Judaism and Confucianism. It argues that such traditions understand the world as fundamentally fractured and discontinuous, with ritual allowing us to live in it by creating temporary order through the construction of a performative, subjunctive world. This is a world “as if”, with ritual understood in its indexical q…
Ambiguity, Ambivalence, and Boundaries
This chapter turns to the capacities of the human mind that allow for the construction of the “as if” world of ritual, and begins to explore the ways such worlds allow us to deal with ambiguities and ambivalences. The material in this chapter, unlike most work on ritual, links individual psychology to ritual's broader social work. It looks at the development of “as if” worlds and ritual-like behaviors in children, from things like repeated bedtim…
Ritual, Play, and Boundaries
This chapter takes up the “as if” worlds of play. The first half discusses how the literature on play helps reveal important variations in the world of ritual by clarifying how ritual relates to notions of self and a social role. Special attention is paid to the work of Roger Caillois and Johan Huizinga on play. The analysis helps focus the idea of “ritual” more clearly by asking how it differs from play. The second half of the chapter continues …
Afterword
Ritual and Sincerity
This chapter turns directly to the tension between sincerity and ritual. Sincerity often appears as a reaction against the perceived hypocrisy of ritual; these reactions in turn tend to ritualize over time. Sincerity offers the world “as is” instead of ritual's “as if”, a world of discursive meanings and unique selves instead of repeated acts and fragmented worlds. Modernity has brought an especially powerful turn toward sincerity. One crucial im…
Movements of Ritual and Sincerity
This chapter looks at different cultural examples of the tensions between ritual and sincerity over time. First, it discusses the interplay of law and love, Judaism and Christianity, and ritual and sincerity in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Second, it looks at the history of architectural ornament, which is ritual-like in its repetitions and rhythms and in its concern with boundaries and framing. Here the ritual/sincerity tension plays out ty…
Modernity Narratives, Modernity Moments, and Belatedness
Aesthetics (6 works) · Art (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · History (3 works) · Literature (3 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (3 works)