Copernican kinship

An Origin Myth for the Category

Bibliographic Data

ID3029458
AuthorsGregory Schrempp (Indiana University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume1
Issue1
Pages103-139
Publication date2011-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHau Journal of Ethnographic Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2049-1115 • E-ISSN: 2575-1433
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14318/hau1.1.004
OpenAlexW2067416055
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited17

In many traditional mythologies, kinship constitutes the privileged idiom of both unity and diversity in the cosmos. In "post-mythological" thought, categories logically conceived attempt to take over the cosmic role of kinship. I compare two accounts of the nature and genesis of categories-those by Durkheim and Mauss on one hand, and by Lakoff and Johnson on the other. Neither account severs ties with mythology or kinship; moreover, the structure of the category, like kinship, offers a mode of projecting the human as the cosmic. To the long-standing anthropological concern with the ways in which humans impose their diverse categories on the world, we should add a concern with the ways category-theorists impose their diverse worlds on the category

Copernican principle · Epistemology · Genealogy · Kinship · Linguistics · Mythology · Sociology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Anthropology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Evolution and Science Education · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life

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