Subject: RE: Origins, Generalities, and Universals
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 15:30:26 -0500



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Hello everyone,

I read Ken's post a couple of days ago and only finally have a moment to respond.  So here goes.  The distinction between origins and beginnings made by Jonathon Z. Smith are certainly interesting and reminiscent of Foucault.  I'm not sure if Smith himself acknowledges Foucault, but it may be helpful to refer to Foucault when upacking these issues. 

First I wanted to describe (to the best of my knowledge) what Foucault refers to as an origin and beginning.  An origin implies a monological (or teleological?) model of history where there is one originating domain from which multiple narratives have 'developed.'  Foucault argues that history is not as a cohesive object that can be explained and contained within one discourse, but rather that it is a series of intertwining discourses which are themselves products or effects of particular historical events.  There is not *one* origin - there are multiple points of intersection which represent beginnings of a particular discourse.  For example, when Foucault engages in a genealogy of madness or of the desiring subject, he traces changes in popular/social opinions and asks "how" the subject came to be?  What were the influences?  How did these opinions/views come to be?  What were they in response to?

Distinguishing between origins and beginnings in this way holds many implications to the study of religion for we can, in a sense, map out the changes in tradition.  How were traditions formed?  What factors contributed to the changes?   

Ken, I wanted to ask you to clarify your following comment where you wrote:

 - a beginning marks a temporal
location regarding a specific and particular religious
generality.  Studying the origins of religion would involve a
reductionistic and self-referencial spacial analysis which
inevitably reduced the concept of religion to a discourse of
sameness - implying a universal and absolute core - which
generates internal problems of the category of religion to
begin with.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean here.  Certainly one could argue that seeking the (absolute) origin of a religious tradition would involve a reductionist view because the impulse to "make things fit" into neat categories would invariably result in an (at best) impartial understanding of the tradition ( We could argue that all understanding is impartial, but let's leave that for the moment)   It is all to often the case that when seeking "the" origins, inconsistencies and subtleties are ignored or dismissed.  Foucault would argue (and I would agree) that it is in fact the inconsistencies which provide insights into the religious tradition (or culture) itself. 

If this is the sort of argument you were suggesting, I would agree with you, however, in the above quote you have referred to the issue of "self-referential spacial analysis" and how it too contributes to a distorted view of tradition.  I'm not clear on what you mean here since it always seems the case that we perceive objects from a particular location and that being located cannot be ignored, but must be acknowledged.  Is there a way around "self-referential spacial analysis"? 


Tanja


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From: 	kenneth.mackendrick[SMTP:kenneth.mackendrick-AT-utoronto.ca]
Sent: 	November 26, 1997 7:59 PM
To: 	Method-and-Theory List
Subject: 	Origins, Generalities, and Universals

Hey folks,

I just got back from the San Francisco where I attended the
annual AAR and NAASR meetings.  One of the sessions of
NAASR (The North American Association for the Study of
Religion) discussed the relevance of origins, generalities, and
universals in the study of religion.

So these are just a few thoughts:

Jonathan Z. Smith argued that there are several problems with
origins, generalities and universals.

First of all he contended that it might be better to examine
beginnings rather than origins.  Whereas origins rely upon
a spacially fixed, absolute, and self-referencial
conceptualizations - Smith posited that it might be more
intelligible to examine beginnings.  A beginning, in contrast to
an origin, is a temporal category based upon a discourse of
difference.  It relies upon a fluid understanding of the myriad
of processes that flow into the examination of a given object
(hermeneutic of otherwise).

For the study of religion - a beginning marks a temporal
location regarding a specific and particular religious
generality.  Studying the origins of religion would involve a
reductionistic and self-referencial spacial analysis which
inevitably reduced the concept of religion to a discourse of
sameness - implying a universal and absolute core - which
generates internal problems of the category of religion to
begin with.

Furthermore - Smith argues that the idea of a generality might
be more coherent that the search for universals in the study of
religion.  Universals rely upon a search for origins - again - a
fixed point - whereas generalities pinpoint a demacation of
intellectual space that admits exceptions and signifies itself
as incomplete.  By way of contrast - a universal claim points
to a systematic claim without exceptions and supports a
(scientifically) problematic model of completeness.

Now Smith does not argue against universals - he is open to
the possibility that they exist.  But in terms of studying
religion - he notes that they are not particularly helpful.

Armin Geertz then notes, in agreement with much of what
Smith has to say, that the study of religion must proceed with
a unrepresentative realism which abandons the
correspondence theory of truth.  Unrepresentative realism
(drawn from Putnam) indicates the employment of metaphors
in scientific research - arguing that the idea of theory is simply
a framework for conceptualization.

Jeppe Jensen expands on these idea by supplementing the
discussion with a paper about the links between semantic
systems and their objects.  He notes that things are
recognizable only insofar as they have appeared semantically
in language.  In this way it is not possible to discuss the
"radical other" since this category itself would not be
recognizeable to any language game.  His idea draws on the
notion that any kind of conceptual transcendence is based
inexplicably upon a teleological self-referenciality.

All in all - the conference ended with a couple of papers (by
Gary Lease, Russell McCutcheon, and Tim Fitzgerald) 
arguing that religion, as a category, doesn't make much
sense in light of its internal inconsistencies and
incoherencies (Don Wiebe's objections not withstanding). 
Provocatively - McCutcheon contends that cultural practices
are better identified when analyzed according to their social
formations - which simultaneously provides an analysis of
power while remaining embedded within the history of
category formation.

thoughts?

ken





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