Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro.
Is it necessary to believe what the other believes to understand him? This paper explores different perspectives through which anthropology has addressed this question. The main argument is that because it is a discipline that arose alongside modernity and the secularization of the world, anthropolo...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad de los Andes
2009-12-01
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| Series: | Revista de Estudios Sociales |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://res.uniandes.edu.co/view.php/623/1.php |
| _version_ | 1818936000082083840 |
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| author | Diego Cagüeñas Rozo. |
| author_facet | Diego Cagüeñas Rozo. |
| author_sort | Diego Cagüeñas Rozo. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Is it necessary to believe what the other believes to understand him? This paper explores different perspectives through which anthropology has addressed this question. The main argument is that because it is a discipline that arose alongside modernity and the secularization of the world, anthropology has tended to ignore what is specifcally “religious” in believing so as to reduce it to a social and symbolic phenomenon. The importance of the problem of belief is reconsidered in respect to anthropology’s approach to the other once the researcher has dismissed the possibility of sharing the other’s beliefs. Turning to the ideas of distance and the defection of the sacred, I question the consequences that secularization brings to the exercise of ethnography and to the study of the problem of belief. Finally, I show that the return of the sacred responds to the logic of idolatry, which seeks to reinstate the authority of the orthodoxies that have been weakened with secularization. I conclude with a brief sketch of the kind of political action that could thwart the violent advance of idolatry in the political sphere. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T05:29:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc7439b62df947a7a09d65655567ab69 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0123-885X 1900-5180 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T05:29:06Z |
| publishDate | 2009-12-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de los Andes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista de Estudios Sociales |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc7439b62df947a7a09d65655567ab692022-12-21T19:51:48ZengUniversidad de los AndesRevista de Estudios Sociales0123-885X1900-51802009-12-0134123134Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro.Diego Cagüeñas Rozo.Is it necessary to believe what the other believes to understand him? This paper explores different perspectives through which anthropology has addressed this question. The main argument is that because it is a discipline that arose alongside modernity and the secularization of the world, anthropology has tended to ignore what is specifcally “religious” in believing so as to reduce it to a social and symbolic phenomenon. The importance of the problem of belief is reconsidered in respect to anthropology’s approach to the other once the researcher has dismissed the possibility of sharing the other’s beliefs. Turning to the ideas of distance and the defection of the sacred, I question the consequences that secularization brings to the exercise of ethnography and to the study of the problem of belief. Finally, I show that the return of the sacred responds to the logic of idolatry, which seeks to reinstate the authority of the orthodoxies that have been weakened with secularization. I conclude with a brief sketch of the kind of political action that could thwart the violent advance of idolatry in the political sphere.http://res.uniandes.edu.co/view.php/623/1.phpSecularizationBeliefDistanceIdolatry. |
| spellingShingle | Diego Cagüeñas Rozo. Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. Revista de Estudios Sociales Secularization Belief Distance Idolatry. |
| title | Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. |
| title_full | Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. |
| title_fullStr | Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. |
| title_short | Las distancias del creer: secularizacón, idolatria y el pensamiento del otro. |
| title_sort | las distancias del creer secularizacon idolatria y el pensamiento del otro |
| topic | Secularization Belief Distance Idolatry. |
| url | http://res.uniandes.edu.co/view.php/623/1.php |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT diegocaguenasrozo lasdistanciasdelcreersecularizaconidolatriayelpensamientodelotro |