31.07.09
Behaviorist ‘debunking’ of shamanism??
Comment on Man, Evolution, and Magic
Antoine said,
31.07.09 at 4:59 am ·
“Again, this is obvious nonsense. It is totally impossible to picture the origin of magic except through some deliberate action of a man who knew what he was doing and why. This does not mean that we are forced ~o believe in magic-it may all be infantile superstition-but the point IS that no Neanderthal man, or any other man, could have stumbled on the idea unaided.”A pigeon can do it for water (see “superstitious pigeon” experiment).
We look for patterns in chaos then we adapt our behaviors to our understanding.
A hunter is surrounded by stimuli and understanding patterns is a vital aspect for survival. Noticing too much patterns is less costly than noticing too less, and there you have your shaman.
These experiments by behaviorists are not the point, I fear. But, anyway, those old pigeons experiments are interesting.
The problem with Bennett is that we simply don’t know the facts of the case with ancient man.