The Human Being as Hypercube: Paradox and Apophatic Anthropology (original) (raw)
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Anthropomorphism as a Form of Thought (Denkform) As is well known, anthropomorphism belongs to the oldest and most prominent forms of thought in the history of culture. However, a glance at how the notion of an anthropomorphic God has been received within religious history shows the degree to which this multifaceted form of thought is a problematic construct. Although in many religious doctrines God is imagined as a white adult male, and the transferral of the human form to a higher being seems to be a constitutive element of religion in general,1 the fragility of anthropomorphic thought was already remarked on and criticized in antiquity.2 In the canonical writings of Judaism and Christianity, as well as Islam, the information as to whether or not God can be imagined in human form is nothing if not contradictory .3 This has inevitably led to lively controversies : for example, in the early church at the turn of the 4th to the 5th century, when the so-called " anthropo-morphites " were criticized for their image of God.4 The consequence of this critique was a monotheistic, logos-oriented and strictly transcendental idea of God that tended towards scepticism in relation to an anthropomorphic God.5 Be that as it may, from a rationalist point of view, " the inadequacy of anthro-pomorphism for a coherent interpretation of the world " is evident.6 Thus, some thinkers have considered anthropomorphism as a primitive stage of religion, or at least one that should be overcome.7
BOOK SYMPOSIUM The elementary structures of being (human)
2015
Imagine if Claude Lévi-Strauss had attempted to apply the methods and goals of The elementary structures of kinship to the substance of The savage mind, that is, to offer a systematic account and comparison of the possibilities and limits of the forms for imagining the place of human beings in the world, in relation to other kinds of being and in internal relation to ourselves. This is what Philippe Descola sets out to do in Beyond nature and culture (2013a). The measure of the book is how far he accomplishes this ambitious goal. In fact, Beyond nature and culture is a magnificent achievement. It offers a beau-tiful and complex model and is written with great precision of thought and elegance of language, a tour de force of both coherent argument and ethnographic compre-hension. But as it would be boring simply to sing its praises and churlish to poke holes in little pieces of the argument, I turn to some of the big questions it raises. My comments are directed to the larger frame a...