Jægeren, de venlige jaguarer og honningfesten

Engelsk summary: This brief article is an addition to my introduction to Philippe Descola’s theory on ontologies available in this volume of RvT. Inspired by a South American myth about helpful jaguars, I discuss Lévi-Strauss’ miscomprehension of the animist ontology, which paradoxically pervades the Amerindian myths analyzed in detail in his Mythologies and other works. I also propose a reason for this miscomprehension. At the end of the fourth and final volume on Amerindian mythology, The Naked Man, Lévi-Strauss suggested that the multitude of myths must be regarded as variants of one single conception; an irreversible loss of communication between heaven and earth. However, this conclusion appears as an indirect apology for a naturalistic modernity, based on a confusion between animist and analogist ontologies. DANSK RESUME: Denne mindre artikel ligger i forlængelse af min redegørelse for Descolas ontologi-teori i dette nummer af RvT. Ud fra en overvejelse over en sydamerikansk myte om hjælpsomme jaguarer drøftes Lévi-Strauss’ misforståelse af den animistiske ontologi, som, paradoksalt nok, er massivt til stede i de amerindiske myter der analyseres så indgående i hans Mythologiques og andre steder. Jeg foreslår en årsag til denne miskendelse. I slutningen på det fjerde og sidste bind af Mythologiques, foreslog Lévi-Strauss at se alle de mange myter som variationer over ét og samme tema: et uigenkaldeligt tab af kommunikation imellem himmel og jord. Men denne konklusion forekommer mest at fungere som en indirekte apologi for en naturalistisk modernitet, baseret på en sammenblanding af animistisk og analogistisk ontologi

Art · Confusion · Heaven · Humanities · Mythology · Psychoanalysis · Theology · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Philosophy · Psychology · Science and Climate Studies

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