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The Unconscious in the Anthropology of Claude Lévi‐Strauss 1
Author(s) -
ROSSI INO
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1973.75.1.02a00020
Subject(s) - unconscious mind , levi strauss , isomorphism (crystallography) , personal unconscious , psychoanalysis , philosophy , epistemology , sociology , psychology , humanities , chemistry , crystal structure , crystallography
Lévi‐Strauss claims that the unconscious activity of mind is more important than the conscious one for understanding social phenomena and that the unconscious consists of an aggregate of forms, which are imposed on psychological and physical content. The real inspiration of Lévi‐Strauss' notion is the Kantian notion of mental constraints and the postulate of isomorphism of mental and physical laws. The methodological usefulness of the unconscious as a principle of intelligibility is placed in evidence.