The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

Recommendations

Info

Interpretation As we saw in the previous chapter the purpose of divination is to facilitate a connection to a counterintuitive agent. This connection with a counterintuitive agent forms the basis of or precondition for interpretation in divination. It would therefore be relevant to start by considering how and why counterintuitive agents are so easily represented and engaged with universally. The predominant view in the cognitive science of religion is that humans possess what has been called a Hyperactive Agency Detection Device or HADD (Barrett 2000). The hyperactivity of this device accounts for why humans often engage in interaction with counterintuitive agents. That would imply that the HADD is the explanation for why divination works. Therefore this theory needs further consideration. The basic line of argumentation for most research in cognition and culture is the following: The human cognitive system is evolved through natural selection. Consequently adaptive cognitive functions have provided increased fitness. 51 This approach has frequently been used in the cognitive science of religion to explain why religion is widespread in human cultures (Atran 2002; Atran & Norenzayan 2004; Boyer 2003). A central feature of this endeavor has been to explain the ubiquity in human cultures of belief in superhuman agents (Atran & Norenzayan 2004; Barrett 2004; Boyer & Ramble 2001). This has in most cases been done with recourse to a stipulated hyperactive agency detection function, what Justin Barrett has termed the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device or HADD (Barrett 2000: 31). I will now consider whether the widespread belief in and interaction with superhuman agents (gods, ghosts and ancestors) can be adequately explained by the HADD. Explaining cognitive functions by evolutionary psychology 52 The ultimate explanation of hyperactive agency detection is made with recourse to evolutionary psychology (Barrett 2000: 32). Evolutionary psychology’s strategy is to explain universal cognitive phenomena by evolved psychological functions. Let us consider this strategy as it is presented by the founders of evolutionary psychology anthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides. Any given cognitive function is stipulated to have provided a selective advantage in the human ancestral environment thereby accounting for its 51 The argument has been spelled out in more detail by John Tooby, Leda Cosmides, Dan Sperber and others (Barkow, Cosmides, & Tooby 1995; Bloch & Sperber 2002; Sperber & Hirschfeld 2004; Sperber 1996) 52 This section is an adapted version of a forthcoming chapter (Lisdorf 2007a). 80
present existence, as the slogan goes: “Our modern skulls house a stone age mind”. The function may be triggered in other contexts than that for which it was selected. Then we are talking about by-products of the original function. 53 But a couple of quite basic points need to be emphasized before we proceed: first, cognitive functions are not inherited; only genes are, and cognitive functions do not have any selective advantages; only behavior does. Second, cognitive functions cannot be observed, only inferred from behavior. Likewise only the scantiest evidence exists of any connection between a given gene and a cognitive function. Add to this the hypothetical function in a largely unknown environment (the Stone Age), and we end up with quite a mixture of “what ifs”, “maybes” and “probablies”. That, of course, is the nature of science. But the nature of science is also to use all available evidence in the investigation, and not introduce more hypotheses than are needed. Let us therefore spell out in detail the premises for the argument. For a cognitive function, F, to have been adaptive, it is necessary that a gene produces a neural structure, S, which reliably produces the cognitive function F. F always leads to behavior B, which has been adaptive in an ancestral environment and conferred an increased fitness on its carrier. Empirically we only have access to B and S. 54 B is observed in psychological experiments, and S can be observed through a number of techniques, such as various scanning techniques, lesion studies, single cell recordings, brain surgery and autopsies. Evolutionary psychology has almost exclusively focused on B (e.g. the primer). This is not a wise move in an environment with so many hypothetical assumptions. Before we start to look for an extra hypothesis concerning the environment of evolutionary adaptation for any uniquely human cognitive function, F, we should expect to find: 1) A neural structure, S, reliably producing the stipulated cognitive function, F, under certain input conditions causing a range of behaviors B1..Bn. 2) S should be unique to humans 3) All instances of B1..Bn should be caused by S through F 53 For a short and accessible introduction presenting these thoughts, confer the primer on the web-site for the Center for Evolutionary Psychology (http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/primer.html (28 February 2007)) 54 The different levels: behaviour, cognitive function and neural structure are based on the classic distinction between levels of analysis in cognitive science made by David Marr (Marr 1982). 81
Page 1 and 2:
The Dissemination of Divination in
Page 3 and 4:
Chapter 8 - Sources to Roman Divina
Page 5 and 6:
List of Figures Figure 3.1. Types o
Page 7 and 8:
Acknowledgements Certain parts of t
Page 9 and 10:
people. It is almost unanimously ag
Page 11 and 12:
that precludes the investigation fr
Page 13 and 14:
asic cognitive functions could acco
Page 15 and 16:
Lienard & Feeney 2006), prayer (Bar
Page 17 and 18:
“the making clear of something”
Page 19 and 20:
In chapter 5 it is argued that obla
Page 21 and 22:
Chapter 1 - History of divination a
Page 23 and 24:
with *-eu appears in two forms. One
Page 25 and 26:
involving the Korinthian Polyidos.
Page 27 and 28:
The 15 th edition of the Encyclopae
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 2 - A History of Modern Div
Page 31 and 32: and games of chance a secondary dev
Page 33 and 34: causes. This is also the case conce
Page 35 and 36: Evans-Pritchard also uses a lot of
Page 37 and 38: through casting the decision “upo
Page 39 and 40: transformed and new relations are g
Page 41 and 42: Somewhat between the great currents
Page 43 and 44: efutations. With this article Zeitl
Page 45 and 46: the function of divination. Special
Page 47 and 48: Chapter 3 - Definition and typology
Page 49 and 50: means signs obtained from the gods
Page 51 and 52: producer. In this case we see that
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 4 - Impetrative Divination
Page 55 and 56: ontogenetic histories. Some feeling
Page 57 and 58: direct people in their life. It can
Page 59 and 60: or potential misfortune or lack of
Page 61 and 62: Before making blood-brotherhood Bef
Page 63 and 64: It was argued that emotion was cent
Page 65 and 66: Figure 4.2. Intentional action It i
Page 67 and 68: Figure 4.4. Ritualized action in di
Page 69 and 70: was the counterintuitive agent who
Page 71 and 72: education. 43 These problems requir
Page 73 and 74: Credibility 4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1
Page 75 and 76: Clairvoyant, and Astrologist. There
Page 77 and 78: Materials A booklet similar to the
Page 79: Summary The thesis of this chapter
Page 83 and 84: Let us presently consider how hyper
Page 85 and 86: 1963). Michotte had subjects watch
Page 87 and 88: another that they were playing agai
Page 89 and 90: monkeys. There is evidence that in
Page 91 and 92: Sperber and Wilson programmatically
Page 93 and 94: humans communicate by producing sig
Page 95 and 96: Let us consider some examples of th
Page 97 and 98: Henrich and Gil-White supply precis
Page 99 and 100: communicator (T.S. Elliot) or a mil
Page 101 and 102: professors are not routinely attrib
Page 103 and 104: thought it most likely the main cha
Page 105 and 106: Chapter 5 - Oblative divination 82
Page 107 and 108: her life”. 85 In the example the
Page 109 and 110: in the city. To most modern people
Page 111 and 112: answer. In oblative divination the
Page 113 and 114: Figure 6.1. brings together the obs
Page 115 and 116: questions on how much disease there
Page 117 and 118: While many good and detailed models
Page 119 and 120: Unexpected event Figure 6.3. Web of
Page 121 and 122: Chapter 7 - Research history on Rom
Page 123 and 124: assumption is that divination, espe
Page 125 and 126: It can be seen that Latte's as well
Page 127 and 128: oth shared the same attitude toward
Page 129 and 130: vastly different views on what legi
Page 131 and 132:
& Scheid 1994; Linder & Scheid 1993
Page 133 and 134:
the observation. If the fear thesis
Page 135 and 136:
Based on the evidence available to
Page 137 and 138:
linear regression analysis was made
Page 139 and 140:
criticism of it. His antiquarian cu
Page 141 and 142:
Post-republican writers Verrius Fla
Page 143 and 144:
M. Servius Honoratus Marius Servius
Page 145 and 146:
The only full description we have o
Page 147 and 148:
called interpretes Iovi, interprete
Page 149 and 150:
All places where auspices should be
Page 151 and 152:
anyhow. There is therefore no reaso
Page 153 and 154:
The credibility value of the greate
Page 155 and 156:
according to Cicero, the point is t
Page 157 and 158:
Utility and Credibility value The a
Page 159 and 160:
History Since it is mentioned in th
Page 161 and 162:
Technique Let us consider public so
Page 163 and 164:
Private sortition Private sortition
Page 165 and 166:
shuffled the lots and drew one 149
Page 167 and 168:
Extispicy is a form of divination w
Page 169 and 170:
public use of extispicy are perform
Page 171 and 172:
(North 1990). In Etruria these indi
Page 173 and 174:
Sibylline books The Sibylline Books
Page 175 and 176:
The word vates can probably be trac
Page 177 and 178:
counterintuitive agent. In all the
Page 179 and 180:
Howevere, there are practices in wh
Page 181 and 182:
Technique Descriptives Credibility
Page 183 and 184:
History Let us see how these observ
Page 185 and 186:
Summary To summarize the conclusion
Page 187 and 188:
as specified in equation 3, but it
Page 189 and 190:
Dissemination Private sortition Pub
Page 191 and 192:
“may the gods avert (bad) omens
Page 193 and 194:
excelled every race and every natio
Page 195 and 196:
calf ran away and spattered many of
Page 197 and 198:
the cultural model of omens, identi
Page 199 and 200:
very widespread 196 and along with
Page 201 and 202:
Although there is great imprecision
Page 203 and 204:
1,2 1 0,4 0,2 0 Omen words in Greek
Page 205 and 206:
e distinguished: nuntiatio, relatio
Page 207 and 208:
ating whether a prodigy involved a
Page 209 and 210:
Year BCE 218-190 189-162 160-132 13
Page 211 and 212:
distinction between public and priv
Page 213 and 214:
140,00 120,00 100,00 80,00 60,00 40
Page 215 and 216:
two seem to have been used in the c
Page 217 and 218:
8) Sacrificia vetusta occultaque mi
Page 219 and 220:
The actual interpretations we hear
Page 221 and 222:
this type among the prodigia, where
Page 223 and 224:
consideration here the cultural mod
Page 225 and 226:
encounter of people using it to a g
Page 227 and 228:
action. It was argued that these re
Page 229 and 230:
investigate the dissemination of di
Page 231 and 232:
practices that did not survive were
Page 233 and 234:
divination. At the same time the op
Page 235 and 236:
Appendix 1 The Kurabi among the Mwa
Page 237 and 238:
Appendix 2 The Guzul In Central Aus
Page 239 and 240:
Appendix 4 Roman Words Omen Prodigi
Page 241 and 242:
Theocritus 21261 1.88 1.88 0 0 0.32
Page 243 and 244:
Moon fell down Capua Goats got wool
Page 245 and 246:
Note: *this is possibly not a separ
Page 247 and 248:
Temple of Ceres struck by lightning
Page 249 and 250:
Sheep with two heads born Suessa Pi
Page 251 and 252:
12 year old hermaphrodite discovere
Page 253 and 254:
Cows were talking Campania Bronze c
Page 255 and 256:
*This prodigy may be the same as th
Page 257 and 258:
156 Storm destroys sacred places on
Page 259 and 260:
* Since the Graecostasis was right
Page 261 and 262:
An owl was seen on the Capitol Roma
Page 263 and 264:
* Rasmussen counts as two (Rasmusse
Page 265 and 266:
Sun formed a disc like a shield at
Page 267 and 268:
Two calfs were found in the entrail
Page 269 and 270:
Fire in the sky Note: While this pr
Page 271 and 272:
Tornado ripped of roofs Bridge coll
Page 273 and 274:
Doors to the temple of Fortuna open
Page 275 and 276:
Appendix 6 Examples of counterintui
Page 277 and 278:
Bibliography Primary Sources 220 La
Page 279 and 280:
Secondary sources Abbink, J. 1993:
Page 281 and 282:
Bering, J. M. and Johnson, D. P. 20
Page 283 and 284:
Callaway, H. 1970: The Religious Sy
Page 285 and 286:
Dumezil, G. 1970: Archaic Roman Rel
Page 287 and 288:
Guillaumont, F. 1984: Philosophe et
Page 289 and 290:
Koenig, M. A., Clement, F., and Har
Page 291 and 292:
Luterbacher, F. 1967: Der Prodigien
Page 293 and 294:
Patton, L. L. 2000: "The Magic in M
Page 295 and 296:
Schilling, R. 1979: "A propos des "
Page 297 and 298:
Taylor, L. R. 1949: Party Politics
Page 299 and 300:
Woodward, J. 2000: "Explanation and
Page 301 and 302:
Oprindeligt blev divination forklar
Page 303 and 304:
menneskelig perception eller ræson
Page 305 and 306:
I kapitel 6 sammenlignes observatio
Page 307 and 308:
Den sidste ligning udtrykker, at sa
show all

The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?