A Study of Origins; Or, the Problems of Knowledge, of Being and of Duty (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: fetishism is the origin of the idea of the divine, either from an historical 01 philosophical point of view. Explanations given by Herbert Spencer. The dream of the savage suggesting the idea of his other self. Exaggeration of the imbecility of the savage. He knows that he dreams. He does not really believe in his double, as is shown by his ideas of the future life, which is always more or less connected by him with his earthly life and conduct ......... pp. 437-466. CHAPTER IV. The Savage And Primeval Man. Objection drawn from the condition of the savage, which is said to be a vestige of the primitive bestiality of man. The savage truly human. I. Savage Nations.?Savage life, as we see it, often proved to be a decadence from a higher state. Historical and psychological evidence of this. Tyler's theory of the development of the religious element in the savage (animism, fetishism, anthropomorphism, mythology, monotheism). Faith in the future life. Tylor's refutation of his own theory. Universality of Religion.?The fact of worship implies a distinction between the merely natural and the divine. High spiritualistic idea contained in animism. Rapid development of monotheism, showing that it underlies all primitive religious ideas. Proofs from facts in all religions of savages. Universality of the Idea of the Future Life.?Development of the idea of retribution and of the moral idea generally. Prayer and sacrifice, the two great elements of religious rites, becoming purer and higher. Proofs supplied by Christian missions that the savage is capable, not only of religion, but of the highest degree of religious development. II. TheManofthc Caves and Lake Dwellings.?Brief sketch of discoveries of traces of prehistoric man. Man living certainly in the quaternary period. The...