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giant fish, giant otters, and dinosaurs: “apparently irrational beliefs” in a Chipewyan community
Author(s) -
SHARP HENRY S.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1987.14.2.02a00030
Subject(s) - reductionism , irrational number , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , meaning (existential) , rationalism , philosophy , sociology , mathematics , linguistics , geometry
Dan Sperber's recent formulations of Rationalism advocate a form of cognitive reductionism in the interpretation of “apparently irrational beliefs” that is contingent upon a linear model of brain functioning analogous to the operations of a computer. This paper considers several nonexistent beings among the Chipewyan, arguing that such reductionism is invalid. As shared forms, their meaning is consistently indeterminate and temporally nonlinear, invalidating the assumptions of a Rationalist approach. [Chipewyan, Northern Athapaskans, rationalist, explanation, representations]