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The Primitive and the Civilized Mind

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

N. Lossky
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Extract

There is a profound difference between the intellectual activity of the primitive man inclined to myth-making, superstition, and visualizing mystical powers and that of the educated European of our own day with his search for exact scientific knowledge. Modern culture tends to educate the mind in the direction of sober scientific thought, and it is very important that this tendency should be subjected to a critical examination. Before beginning the pursuit of the educational ideal it is essential to see wherein the difference between the savage and the civilized mind really consists and to determine the relative value of primitive and scientific thought.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1926 , pp. 145 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1926

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References

1 Les Fonctions, p. 37.

2 Ibid., p. 77.

3 Ibid., p. 101.

4 Ibid., p. 107.

1 Recent investigations have shown that the action of the wasp is not infallible, but this rather confirms Bergson’s view: no action guided by perception is infallible; in taking with a fork a piece of meat off his plate a man guided by visual perception may miss his aim.

1 The relation between the laws of nature and the free creative manifestations of the substantival agents’ activity is discussed in my book on Free Will, now in print.