Showing papers by "Maurice Bloch published in 1999"
TL;DR: In all societies, sharing food is a way of establishing closeness, while, conversely, the refusal to share is one of the clearest marks of distance and enmity.
Abstract: In all societies, sharing food is a way of establishing closeness, while, conversely, the refusal to share is one of the clearest marks of distance and enmity. These points have been repeatedly made by both anthropologists and psychologists. Commensality, the action of eating together, is thus one of the most powerful operators of the social process. Commensality evokes a similar dialectical process of temporal unification and diversification. The concepts of kinship and commensality act together and are often believed to imply one another. The source of discomfort in commensality is the fear of poisoning. The Zafimaniry are as obsessed by the theme of poisoning as they are by the theme of domestic oneness. The fear of poisoning is always present when strangers are treated as close kin, and it is particularly present at feasts when large groups of people suddenly become ‘one house’ eating from one hearth.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a compte rendu critique du recent livre d'Alfred Gell, Art and Agency, est centre sur ce qui concerne l'aspect cognitif.
Abstract: Ce compte rendu critique du recent livre d’Alfred Gell, Art and Agency, est centre sur ce qui concerne l’aspect cognitif. Gell suggere de remplacer le concept d’esthetique par celui d’art, considere comme un element de la communication entre individus. Pour Gell, les objets d’art nous font imaginer les intentionnalites tres variees qui sont liees a leur production ; nous nous les representons comme possedant eux-memes une intentionnalite propre. Cette theorie de l’art est fondee sur les recents developpements de la psychologie cognitive concernant la capacite des etres humains de se comprendre entre eux au moyen d’une « theorie de l’esprit » innee, ce qui est generalement considere comme le fondement du social. L’auteur de cet article fait un accueil enthousiaste a cette maniere de voir l’art, tout en regrettant que Gell n’ait pas pousse plus loin les implications de sa theorie cognitive.
8 citations
01 Mar 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the cognitive implications of Gell's book, Art and Agency, and regret that Gell did not delve deeper into the implications of his cognitive theory.
Abstract: This review focuses on the cognitive implications of Alfred Gell’s book, Art and Agency. From the start, Gell refuses the concept of aesthetics and suggests that we see art as a form of social communication. Accordingly, artworks stimulate the imagination through the many types of intentionality that have gone into producing them; and they themselves become imagined sources of intentionality. Gell’s theory of art is anchored in recent developments in cognitive psychology having to do with the human ability to understand others. An innate «theory of mind» is widely assumed to be the basis for this intercomprehension and for life in society. While enthusiastically embracing this way of seeing art, this review article regrets that Gell did not delve deeper into the implications of his cognitive theory. Ce compte rendu critique du recent livre d’Alfred Gell, Art and Agency, est centre sur ce qui concerne l’aspect cognitif. Gell suggere de remplacer le concept d’esthetique par celui d’art, considere comme un element de la communication entre individus. Pour Gell, les objets d’art nous font imaginer les intentionnalites tres variees qui sont liees a leur production ; nous nous les representons comme possedant eux-memes une intentionnalite propre. Cette theorie de l’art est fondee sur les recents developpements de la psychologie cognitive concernant la capacite des etres humains de se comprendre entre eux au moyen d’une « theorie de l’esprit » innee, ce qui est generalement considere comme le fondement du social. L’auteur de cet article fait un accueil enthousiaste a cette maniere de voir l’art, tout en regrettant que Gell n’ait pas pousse plus loin les implications de sa theorie cognitive.
6 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the cognitive implications of Gell's book, Art and Agency, and regret that Gell did not delve deeper into the implications of his cognitive theory.
Abstract: EnglishThis review focuses on the cognitive implications of Alfred Gell’s book, Art and Agency From the start, Gell refuses the concept of aesthetics and suggests that we see art as a form of social communication Accordingly, artworks stimulate the imagination through the many types of intentionality that have gone into producing them; and they themselves become imagined sources of intentionality Gell’s theory of art is anchored in recent developments in cognitive psychology having to do with the human ability to understand others An innate «theory of mind» is widely assumed to be the basis for this intercomprehension and for life in society While enthusiastically embracing this way of seeing art, this review article regrets that Gell did not delve deeper into the implications of his cognitive theory francaisCe compte rendu critique du recent livre d’Alfred Gell, Art and Agency, est centre sur ce qui concerne l’aspect cognitif Gell suggere de remplacer le concept d’esthetique par celui d’art, considere comme un element de la communication entre individus Pour Gell, les objets d’art nous font imaginer les intentionnalites tres variees qui sont liees a leur production ; nous nous les representons comme possedant eux-memes une intentionnalite propre Cette theorie de l’art est fondee sur les recents developpements de la psychologie cognitive concernant la capacite des etres humains de se comprendre entre eux au moyen d’une « theorie de l’esprit » innee, ce qui est generalement considere comme le fondement du social L’auteur de cet article fait un accueil enthousiaste a cette maniere de voir l’art, tout en regrettant que Gell n’ait pas pousse plus loin les implications de sa theorie cognitive
1 citations