FALL 2024

There is nothing more vitally important to anthropology or to any one of us, personally, than to see the emotions—the inner lives—of other people with a fullness that is in keeping with who they truly are and what they deserve. Thus far anthropology and every one of the social sciences have been inadequate to this all-important objective, owing to insufficient knowledge. In this semester we will learn from Eli Siegel, in his lecture Aesthetic Realism Sees Emotion, what every person needs to know to take part in the rich awareness of self—including one’s own—in keeping with this principle: “Every person is always trying to put together opposites in himself or herself.”— Accordingly, we title these classes—

Anthropology, the Opposites, and Human Emotions

• Sep 18   “A Yes and No of Self” Underlies all Anthropology

This class is about the definition of emotion, true for all cultures, which Eli Siegel describes early in the lecture we’re studying. He asks: “Is there anything in common in all emotions? There is.” And it is this: “Emotion is always a yes and no of self, shown through the body.”

In this class we’ll be illustrating, with examples, beginning in Papua New Guinea, how it is true. And we say, if people of diverse cultures, skin tones, languages are ever to understand one another, the means is here.

• Oct 2   Pairs of Emotions in the Tipi, Hut, Village, Living Room

Gordon Childe, a distinguished anthropologist, is quoted in this lecture, on how the nervous system evolved, beginning with simple sense impressions like light and dark, warmth and cold, and simple responses to them. Mr. Siegel explains that these were “the first sign that a world was looking at itself.” Much later, higher beings, from polar bears to humans, evolved with richer and richer emotional repertoires. The Yes and No of Self is shown to be in pairs of emotions that include Pleasure : pain; Self-respect : guilt; Confidence : inferiority; Like : anger.

• Oct 16  Emotions & the Anthropology of Customs & Rituals

We look at further pairs of emotions. Anthropology has been called “The Science of Custom” which includes documenting rituals throughout the world. Social customs and rituals can be for what’s true and just, and they can be against what’s true and just. But what do they come from—how important is it to know the place of emotion in them, conscious and unconscious?

•  Nov 3  [Sunday 11 AM—not October 30th]  Joint Class, Art & Anthropology

The title of this class is “Emotion in Art and Anthropology.” We will meet on Sunday from 11 AM to 12:30.

• Nov 13   Notes on the Origin of Language; or, a New Way of Seeing a Great Accomplishment

How did language arise? There was an increasing aesthetic sense in the people of the late Paleolithic, as the objects they made became more beautiful. I believe the impetus to paint pictures in caves and the impetus to use words about the world, are related. There is a warm humanity in how Eli Siegel spoke of a possible cave artist in that early time. And it is lovely to think of him speaking the same way about an early person who spoke the first words and sentences of all time—originating language. Said Mr. Siegel, “I think he had the notion that he was doing something worthwhile….Let us, unless we are completely forbidden, give a little pride to various individuals in prehistory.”

• Nov 27   Being Angry & Being Pleased; or, They Began Early & Continue

Nothing has caused more trouble in the cultures of the world than the way these two emotions have gotten mixed up, confused, and driven people. Writes Mr. Siegel: “The two are ever so close. They are both emotion, and at this time, to use a frequent phrase, they are playing havoc.” In this class we use examples of how this is so in diverse cultures, comparing them to our own. And we ask, What is the aesthetic solution—at last, understood by Aesthetic Realism?

• Dec 11  Anthropological Thought Goes On: Papers by Students in the Class