模仿行为的力量:认知进化和超自然代理

IF 0.1 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural Pub Date : 2022-08-24 DOI:10.5325/preternature.11.2.0322

Deon Liebenberg

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引用次数: 0

摘要

对文化对象和行为的超自然力量的广泛信仰，可以说是由一种思维模式所支撑的，这种思维模式包含了文化优先于自然的概念，这种概念在神话、仪式和相关的文化现象中广泛而多样地表达出来，以及与原始整体性或初始无差别状态相关的概念。这是根据梅林·唐纳德的认知进化理论来解释的，具体来说，口语是由一种模仿的交流形式产生的。认知进化的各种理论被用来解释某些形式的模仿行为在口语进化后被认为是过时的。本文认为，尽管这种模仿行为具有明显的反直觉特征，但由于其强大的适应性，以及解决至关重要的心理问题的能力，这种模仿行为得以延续并进一步发展。

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The Power of Mimetic Performance: Cognitive Evolution and Supernatural Agency

abstract:The very widespread belief in the supernatural agency of cultural objects and actions is arguably underpinned by a mode of thought that entails the concept, widely and variously expressed in myth, ritual, and related cultural phenomena, of the priority of culture over nature, as well as related concepts of primordial wholeness or an initial undifferentiated state. This is explained here in terms of Merlin Donald's theory of cognitive evolution, specifically that spoken language was preceded by a mimetic form of communication. Various theories of cognitive evolution are brought into play to explain the putative survival of certain forms of mimetic performance after the evolution of spoken language should have made them obsolete. It is argued here that, in spite of their apparently counterintuitive character, such mimetic performances were perpetuated and further developed because of their powerfully adaptive nature, their ability to address crucially important psychological issues.

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来源期刊

Preternature-Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

0.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Preternature provides an interdisciplinary, inclusive forum for the study of topics that stand in the liminal space between the known world and the inexplicable. The journal embraces a broad and dynamic definition of the preternatural that encompasses the weird and uncanny—magic, witchcraft, spiritualism, occultism, esotericism, demonology, monstrophy, and more, recognizing that the areas of magic, religion, and science are fluid and that their intersections should continue to be explored, contextualized, and challenged.