Citation

Yamamoto K. Coll. Antropol. 1999; 23(1): 221-229.

Affiliation

Kyushu Institute of Design, Fukuoka, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Croatian Anthropological Society)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10402726

Abstract

How ethics and social order in a society without state power had originated and developed is one of enigmas which human beings have tried to solve for a long time. Several theories on the origin of social order have been proposed since the "Social Contract" theory of Thomas Hobbes. According to Hobbes, as a society without state power is in a condition called war, a social contract among men is the origin of social order in a society where every man is against every man. Rousseau says that when human beings reach the stage in which they live in a permanent neighborhood, a property system is introduced. Then, too much ambition and avarice of man who has possessions compel him to propose the formation of a political institution, providing social order which enables him to keep his possessions. According to Nietzsche, the principle of equilibrium, that is, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is an important concept for the oldest theory of low and morality as well as the basis of justice. The sense of superiority and nobility which a strong man brave enough to take revenge feels is the origin of the antithesis "good" and "bad". Girard says that the sacred violence wielded by the community to sacrifice a surrogate victim brings about social order in a society without state power. All the aforementioned theories seem to have failed to find out that a society without state power has its own ethics that had spontaneously developed on the pagan culture. Previously, I indicated that a society without state power or a society where state power cannot function well, such as the tribal society in northern Albania, has ethics which is based on the ancient concepts of "Guest-god", "food (commensality)" and "blood". In the present paper, I propose a new theory on the origin of ethics and social order, using the model of ethics of the Kanun.

Language: en