Download - Lecture 3 Equality in Early Societies
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Equality in Early Societies
And the Historical Fall of Humankind
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Seating for class P1 (T-Th)
Front of Room
Lawler: P110 (W 12)
P101 (M 9) P107 (Tu 9)P102 (W 9) P104 (W 11) P108 (Th 9)
P103 (F 9) P105 (M 11) P109 (M 8)
P106 (F 11)McNamara Kelly McAndrew
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Seating for P2 (M-W)
Front of Room
Lawler: P201 (T 2)
P 202(M 10) P208 (M 12)P 203 (W 10) P205 (M 8) P209 (W 12)
P 204 (F 10) P206 (W 8) P210 (Th 12)
P207 (F 8)Lawrence Donohue Houston
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Mind/Spirit over Matter
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Ancient (Eastern) v.
Modern (Western)
Modern science and technology: matter based,external instruments (mechanical causes) Causes of illness: external, germs and viruses
Cures through external interventions, chemicals
Ancient science and technology: spirit/mind basedtechnologies of thought/feeling (Ayurveda,Acupuncture, Yoga etc. (human purposes, teleology) Illnesses are related to inner state: thoughts, personality
types How to control ones mind > basis for healing the body
Importance of the life force: Prana (India), Chi (China),expressing the animism of early hunter/gatherers
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Outline
A Basic concepts of Genesis
In the beginningparadise
The fall and its consequences
B Historical parallels
The earliest societies
The rise of hierarchical states
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In the Beginning
And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness . . . Genesis 1:26
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul.
(Genesis 2:7)
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Harmony
Creation of humans: God-like spirit (breath)
breathed into matter of earth
In the beginning human beings were one with
God, nature, and each other.
Harmony of matter and spirit, nature and
humanity.
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Breath of Life
=no radical separation between God and
humans
--in terms of spirit (Gods breath)
Latin for air, breath, life; mind, soul, spirit:
anima, animus
=> animism: All reality contains spirit
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Human dominion of the earth
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness: and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, an over all the earth, and over everycreeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(Genesis 1:26)
=> nature spontaneously exists for the purpose of
(teleology) serving human beingswithout labor,struggle, conquest
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Equality of Male and Female
First account of creation of human beings:
Equality of male and female:
So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)
--Second account: Eve taken from Adams rib.
Later version? (Genesis 2:20-24)
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The command
Dont eat of the tree that brings knowledge ofgood and evil
= remain in a state of simple unity with all natureand God, a state of goodness w/o evil
Evil is what comes from disunity between God and humanity,
between humans and nature,
between humans and each other
All Gods creation is good
Wehumans are the cause of evil
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How It Used To Be
1) And they heard the voice of the Lord Godwalking in the garden in the cool of the day.
= oneness, friendship, with God
2) and Adam and his wife hid themselvesfrom the presence of the Lord God amongstthe trees of the garden.
=Humans separate themselves from God.
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The Fall
Humans freely choose to separate themselvesfrom this state of innocence and perfection.
Eve initiates this. Why Eve, not Adam?
=Choice of separateness, individuality 1) Separation from God
2) Separation from each other
3) Separation from harmony with nature.
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Results of choice of separation
Separation of man and woman
For the man: pain of physical labor
Loss of dominion over the earth
For the woman: pain of childbirth,
subordination to the man
>death >murder (fratricide) . . . war
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Why does Cain kill Abel?
Hint: What work do they do?
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Cain and Abel
And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was
a tiller of the ground. (Genesis 4:2)
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Historical implications
From whose point of view?
Who, what are the Hebrews?
How did the hearers of the story of Genesisunderstand their situation?
Who are their enemies?
Who is good and who is evil? How does historical context help us
understand the text?
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Historical Parallels
Historical parallel
Agriculturalists v. herders
Fall as reflection of division of humanity
1) From nature
2) From each other
3) From God
1) Hunter/Gatherers (animals/plants)
2) Herders (from hunters) againstAgriculturalists (from gatherers)
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Historical Timeline
1) Early hunter-gathererspaleolithic age
120,000 years of homo sapiens (sapiens)
2 million years of homo habilis (stone tools)
2) Revolution 10,000-8000 BCEbegins neolithic age Herders and simple agriculturalists
Transitional stage
3) Revolution 3,500 BCE
rise of hierarchical state societies (complex agriculture)
Time of the Fall
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1) Separation from Nature
1) Mode of life of hunter/gatherers
Appropriation of nature
Dependence on independent nature
Unity with nature
2) Mode of life of herders, simpleagriculturalists
Human transformation of nature 3) Hierarchical states control nature: irrigation
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Evolution of material creativity
1) Change nature intotools (for hunting,gathering)
2) Transform nature withtools (for herding,
simple agriculture) 3) Intensified domination of nature (the
animal drawn plow)Civilization
NB: Non-biological changes, outside thehuman organism
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2) Separation from Each Other
1) Equality of hunter-gatherer societies
Kinship-based society: natural relations
Leaders democratically chosen, elders
Exogamous marriage: unites the small bands into largertribes
Gender differences but equality of status: no power ofmen over women
2) Herders, simple agriculturalists
Male dominance among herders, but no state: HebrewGod is male
Goddess religions among early agriculturalists (male andfemale gods)
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Rise of Inequality
3) Hierarchical Middle-Eastern state society
Sharp class divisions; slavery (separation from
tools!)
Hereditary rulers over the people
Subordination of women to men
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Oppressiveness of early civilization
In modern times, many scholars have calledattention to the shortcomings of Sumer. (Seebox, p. 60.) They caution us to learn from the
past so as not to repeat what they see as themistakes of Sumer in our own cities: Not tomake warfare into a religious obligation; not toisolate the city from the countryside; not to
establish oppressive class distinctions; not toinstitutionalize the patriarchal oppression ofwomen.
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Contrast with the previous world
Underlying these warnings, however, isanother myth, the myth of the pre-urbanagricultural village as an egalitarian, peacefulsettlement well integrated into its naturalsurroundings.
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How do we know this?
We do not know if this was so. Pre-urban
villagers produced no written records, and
their artfactual remains are thin, inconclusive,
and subject to widely divergent interpretation.Scholars draw many of their conclusions
concerning pre-urban life from observing
isolated groups in todays world, such as the!Kung people of the African Kalahari desert of
a generation ago. (62)
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Genesisas Critique of History
What did the early people themselvesthink?
Genesisas a basis of knowing what some early
peoples thought of development of civilization
And its different separations
Inequality of men and women is unnatural
Labor over/against nature is unnatural
War is unnatural
Explanation: the results of sin (i.e., separation
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The subordination of women
Finally, the transformation of society from a
rural, egalitarian, kin base to an urban,
hierarchical, territorial, and class base may
have provided the entering wedge for thesubordination of women. Some women in
Sumer had great power . Spodek, 60.
What did the people themselvesthink of this?
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The People v. Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her
mother(?)
The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the
young man,
the gods kept hearing their complaints, so
the gods of the heavens implored the Lord of
Uruk [Anu]
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"You have indeed brought into being a mighty
wild bull, head raised!
"There is no rival who can raise a weapon
against him.
"His fellows stand (at the alert), attentive
to his (orders!)
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and (the gods) called out to Aruru:
"it was you, Aruru, who createdmankind(?),
now create a zikru [opponent] to it/him.
Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh's)stormy heart,
let them be a match for each other so thatUruk may find peace!"
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Historical Context of Gilgamesh
What stage of history does this reflect?
Whose point of view?
What kind of people are telling/hearing this
story?
What do they think of their situation?
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