Scott, Michael W. ORCID: 0000-0002-2301-6924 (2015) Cosmogony today: counter-cosmogony, perspectivism, and the return of anti-biblical polemic. Religion and Society: Advances in Research, 6 (1). pp. 44-61. ISSN 2150-9298
|
PDF
- Accepted Version
Download (443kB) | Preview |
Abstract
In this article I review critical thought about cosmogony in the social sciences and explore the current status of this concept. The latter agenda entails three components. First, I argue that – even where there is no mention of cosmogony – contemporary anthropological projects that reject the essentialist ontology they ascribe to Western modernity in favour of analytical versions of relational nondualism thereby posit a counter-cosmogony of eternal relational becoming. Second, I show how Viveiros de Castro has made Amazonian cosmogonic myth – read as counter-cosmogony – exemplary of the relational nondualist ontology he calls perspectival multinaturalism. Observing that this counter-cosmogony now stands in opposition against biblical cosmogony, I conclude by asking, what are the consequences for the study of cosmogony when it becomes a register of what it is about – when it becomes, that is, a medium of polemical debate about competing models of cosmogony and the practical implications they allegedly entail.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Official URL: | http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/air-rs/ |
Additional Information: | © 2015 Berghahn Journals |
Divisions: | Anthropology |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology |
Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2015 13:37 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2024 02:39 |
URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/61693 |
Actions (login required)
View Item |