Laying aside the spear: Hobbesian w a r r e and the Maussian gift

Corbey, R.H.A. (2006)

Part of book or chapter of book

Ethnologists inevitably come to their subjects with a certain philosophical baggage which is part of their own, North Atlantic universe of cosmological and moral meaning, and influences the way they gather and interpret their data. This chapter examines one particular, widespread assumption informing Maussian and structuralist theorising on gifts and reciprocity: the idea of violence as a basic tendency of human nature. While most other contributions to this volume focus on detailed archaeological and ethnographic data pertaining to conflict and violence more directly, the present one looks at historical and epistemological backgrounds of one particular, quite influential way of handling such data theoretically and conceptually.

• Warfare
• Marcel Mauss
• Thomas Hobbes
• Violence
• Human evolution
• Philosophy

• All authors: Corbey, R.H.A.
• Editor(s): Otto, T.; Thrane, H.; Vandkilde, H.
• Date: 2006
• Title of host publication: Warfare and society: Archaeological and Social Anthropological Perspectives
• Pages: 29 - 36
• ISBN (print): 8779341101
• DOI: doi:10.1.1.821.8363