Oxford University Press. A belief in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of traditional African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants. Young children are more inclined to ascribe agency to what most adults regard as inanimate objects. 9-20. [26][29][30][31], Traditional African medicine is also directly linked to traditional African religions. The animists claimsay, that whales are personsis not a belief to which she assents, nor is it a hypothesis which she might aim to demonstrate or falsify. [1][9], Adherents of traditional religions in Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million. The circumcision takes place early in the morning by a riverside where the boys strip and have their bodies painted with ash. (Video), 1,200-Year-Old Viking Ship Burial Found in Supposedly Empty Mound, 10 Jaw-dropping Engineering Marvels of the Inca Empire, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Pterodactyl of New Guinea. Alston, W. (1986) Epistemic Circularity Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. The animist does not so much believe of the world that it contains spooky nature spirits; rather, she participates in a natural world, which is responsive and communicative. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A revised common consent argument may be launched, however, which runs that since separate and isolated religious communities independently agree to the proposition that features of the natural world (such as rocks, rivers and whales) are persons, it follows, therefore, that animism is probably true (Smith 2019). So, whereas monotheistic religious traditions are taken to be grounded in abstract reasoning about ultimate causes and ultimate justice (supposedly masculine reasoning), animism is taken to be grounded in intuition and a concern for the maintenance of interpersonal relationships. However, religious animists typically reject the claim that all things are living, and they also reject that the universe as a whole is a living being. Continuum: pp. This view turns the traditional, Western, naturalistic notion of the unity of nature and the plurality of culture on its head. A similar view can also be found in work outside of the analytic philosophical tradition. Despite the near ubiquity of animistic beliefs and practices among indigenous peoples of every continent, and despite the crucial role of animism in the early emergence and development of human religious thought, contemporary academic philosophy of religion is virtually silent on the subject. M. Darrol Bryant, Rita H. Mataragnon, The Many faces of religion and society (1985), Page 100, Index of African mythology and creation narratives, List of African deities and mythical figures, Traditional African religion and other religions, Persecution of traditional African religion, Female genital mutilation laws by country, "Responding to new Imageries in African indigenous Spiritualties", "The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a new appreciation of animism", "Animism: Foundation of Traditional Healing in Sub-Saharan Africa", What is religion? In other belief systems, however, places and objects are also believed to have some level of sentience. Other philosophers of religion (such as Kevin Schilbrack [2014] and Graham Oppy [2014]) argue that the philosophy of religion needs to critically engage with a greater diversity of viewpoints and traditions, which would include animism, as well as ancestor worship, shamanism and the like. This spiritual understanding of nature is rooted in animism. New York: Macmillan and Co. Freud, S. (1950) Totem and Taboo. Oppy, G. (2014) Reinventing Philosophy of Religion: An Opinionated Introduction. Additionally, many animist traditions regard features of the environment to be non-human relatives or ancestors from whom members of the community are descended. Animism, in some form or other, has been the dominant religious tradition across all human societies since our ancestors first left Africa. pp. Bird-David, N. (2017) Us, Relatives: Scaling and Plural Life in a Forager World. Typically, the animist takes particular features of the natural world as endowed with personhood or some form of interiority, often having their own cultural lives and communities akin to those of human beings. This is the case with animism, the belief that all things, including plants, animals, objects, locations and even concepts, are spiritually alive. Other Indian religions also focus on worshipping specific trees, such as the Bodhi and Bonsai. Though this has been widely debated, it is clear that animism is a significant part of ancient religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism , even if the idea of one ancient global religion has been dismissed by other archaeologists. The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants. Whereas in normal conditions, humans see humans as humans, and animals as animals, it is not the case that animals see themselves as animals. Indeed, even contemporary defenders of the common consent argument for the existence of God accept that independent agreement is stronger evidence for the truth of some proposition than agreement generated by some other means, such as word of mouth or indoctrination (see, for example, Zagzebski [2012, 343]). These same people have no qualms in carrying out traditional marriages, naming ceremonies, and performing circumcision for their sons in the traditional manner. As a result, some anthropologists have debated whether animism is a single religion in and of itself, similar to Christianity with its different denominations, or if each culture has its own individual religion, with belief in animism as a singular part. No matter which country you look in, most will have some sort of indigenous history which includes animism.
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