Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

Conference | Paper

»Primitivity« of the Foreign. Phenomenology and Ethnology

Dragan Prole

Tuesday 13 September 2022

14:00 - 14:45

Palazzo del Capitanio-Aula Film

Phenomenology brings us an interesting diagnosis, according to which every nation actually shows tendencies towards the crystallization of time and culture, towards the suffocation of its own historical dynamics. Husserl calls this process “national mythology”, and he sees the real steps in the direction of encouraging historical movement in overcoming the restraining effects that result from staring at the past. Phenomenological insight into the historical upheaval emphasizes the benefits of overcoming the false harmony of the beginning, the naive totality of the mythical community and, finally, the “primitiveness” of consciousness that is formed in it. The first message of ethnology addressed to the phenomenology directly concerned the heritage, which they considered their specific difference, their advantage over all other cultures. It is about the general human capacities of the European mind. The generality of the logos, which is supposedly incarnated in that mind, provided the European spiritual sciences with an alibi for completely ignoring all cultural institutions that have been placed outside the framework of the European logos. The beginning of ethnology marked the end of that alibi.