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Edvard Westermarck

1862–1939

Pierwsze przybliżeniecelowe uproszczenie – portret mówi więcej

Sądy moralne wyrażają emocje aprobaty i dezaprobaty, które stały się bezinteresowne; ponieważ zależą one od doświadczenia, przekonań i obyczaju, idee moralne różnią się między społeczeństwami i żadna nie może rościć sobie obiektywnej ważności – co powinno czynić nas tolerancyjnymi, a nie obojętnymi.

Umiejscowienie

Socjologia i teoria społeczna · Europa Północna · Etyka, Społeczeństwo i historia

Fiński filozof i socjolog w Helsinkach, Turku i Londynie: sądy moralne opierają się na emocjach aprobaty i oburzenia, dlatego idee moralne różnią się między społeczeństwami; unikanie kazirodztwa wyjaśniał niechęcią między ludźmi wychowywanymi razem.

Kluczowe idee

  • Relatywizm etyczny
  • Emocje moralne
  • Historia małżeństwa ludzkiego
  • Efekt Westermarcka

Uczniowie: Bronisław Malinowski

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Wpływ

Pod wpływem 3

  • David Hume

    pod wpływem

    Westermarck placed his theory that moral judgements express disinterested emotions of approval and disapproval in Hume’s tradition, naming Hume a forerunner (Ethical Relativity, 1932). E. Westermarck, Ethical Relativity (1932); The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (1906–08); T. Stroup, Westermarck’s Ethics (1982); SEP “Hume’s Moral Philosophy”

    Źródło: szkic AI

    David Hume › 1711–1776

  • Adam Smith

    pod wpływem

    Westermarck drew on Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments for the disinterestedness and apparent impartiality that make retributive emotions moral (Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, 1906–08). E. Westermarck, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (1906–08); O. Pipatti, Morality Made Visible: Edward Westermarck’s Moral and Social Theory (2019); SEP “Adam Smith’s Moral and Political Philosophy”

    Źródło: szkic AI

    Adam Smith › 1723–1790

  • Karol Darwin

    pod wpływem

    Westermarck framed The History of Human Marriage (1891) with Darwin’s theory of descent and selection, arguing that lasting pair bonds, not promiscuity, go back to the earliest humans. E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (1891); C. Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871)

    Źródło: szkic AI

    Karol Darwin › 1809–1882

Wpływ na 1

  • Bronisław Malinowski uczeń/uczennica

    uczeń/uczennica

    Malinowski came to the London School of Economics in 1910 to study with Westermarck and C. G. Seligman; there he wrote The Family among the Australian Aborigines (1913), and he took his DSc in 1916. M. W. Young, Malinowski: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884–1920 (2004)

    Źródło: szkic AI

    Bronisław Malinowski › 1884–1942

Krytyka

Krytyka ze strony 2

  • Sigmund Freud

    krytyka ze strony

    Freud rejected Westermarck’s view that growing up together breeds sexual aversion: if incest were naturally avoided, it would need no strict prohibition (Totem und Tabu, 1913, ch. 4). S. Freud, Totem und Tabu (1913), ch. IV; E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, 1891

    Źródło: szkic AI

    Sigmund Freud › 1856–1939

  • Claude Lévi-Strauss

    krytyka ze strony

    Lévi-Strauss rejected Westermarck’s derivation of the incest taboo from an innate aversion among those raised together: what instinct secured would need no prohibition (Elementary Structures, 1949). C. Lévi-Strauss, Les structures élémentaires de la parenté (1949), ch. 2; E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (1891)

    Źródło: szkic AI

    Claude Lévi-Strauss › 1908–2009

Dzieła

Stanowisko

Westermarck is on the map as a founder of comparative sociology and anthropology and as a classic defender of ethical relativity. “The History of Human Marriage” (1891) used Darwin’s theory and a wide range of ethnographic material against the then common view that human society began in promiscuity or group marriage: lasting pair bonds, he argued, go back to the earliest humans. To explain why incest is avoided, he proposed that people who grow up together develop an aversion to sexual relations with each other – a hypothesis rejected by Freud and Lévi-Strauss, but later supported by studies of Israeli kibbutzim and of “minor marriages” in Taiwan and now known as the “Westermarck effect”. In “The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas” (1906–08) and “Ethical Relativity” (1932) he held, in the tradition of Hume and Adam Smith, that moral judgements express emotions of approval and disapproval that have become disinterested; since these depend on circumstances, beliefs and customs, moral ideas vary, and none has objective validity. He did not conclude that anything goes, but expected greater tolerance from knowledge of the variety of moral opinion. His Moroccan studies remain an important source on North African ritual and belief.

Życie i kontekst

Edvard Westermarck was born on 20 November 1862 in Helsinki into a Swedish-speaking family; his father was the university’s bursar. He studied philosophy in Helsinki and from 1887 worked in the library of the British Museum in London on the history of marriage, the basis of his doctoral thesis (1889) and of “The History of Human Marriage” (1891). He taught sociology in Helsinki, was professor of moral philosophy there from 1906 to 1918 and at the same time held a chair of sociology at the University of London (1907–30), where Bronisław Malinowski was among his students. From 1898 he spent many years in Morocco, studying rituals, beliefs and customs. In 1918 he became professor of philosophy and the first rector of Åbo Akademi, the Swedish-language university in Turku. He died on 3 September 1939.

Dalsze główne dzieła

  • The History of Human Marriage (1891; 5th ed., 3 vols., 1921)
  • The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (2 vols., 1906–08)
  • Ritual and Belief in Morocco (2 vols., 1926)
  • Ethical Relativity (1932)
  • Christianity and Morals (1939)

Źródła: Wikipedia · Wikidata

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