Levi-Strauss (Levi - Strauss) Claude

(p. 1908)-French. philosopher, sociologist and ethnographer, the leader of structuralism, the founder of structural anthropology, explorer of primitive kinship systems, mythology and folklore. His work has received worldwide fame and had a great influence in many areas of philosophical kulturologich. Research. He graduated from Paris. Univ. In 1935-39 Professor. Sociology Zap in Sao Paulo (Brazil) takes the expedition for the study of Brazilian Indians. In 1942-45 Professor. in New York, since 1946 has taught in France. In 1949 at the initiative of UNESCO, held a field study in Pakistan. In 1959 headed the Department of Social Anthropology at the College de France. Member Franz. and many Foreign. Academies. His first major work 'Elementary structures of kinship' (1949) was met with approval, but only after the appearance of 'sad Tropics' (1955), 'Structural Anthropology' (1958) and 'Thinking of savages' (1962) AL-C. became widely known, and structuralism was found separateness, direction.
In an effort to create ratsionalistich. philosophy of man, he essentially rejected the subjectivist approach and psihologizatorsky existentialism and phenomenology and the search for objective foundations of knowledge turned to sociology and ethnology. Through the study of life and culture of primitive peoples AL-C. hoped to find a solution to the problems of becoming a human. on the islands and the formation of thinking. So even his etnogr. Field studies were Methodological. and methodology. character, and not uzkoempirichesky.

Formation of structuralist ideas happening in LA-C. under the influence of decomp. sources: structural and functional studies of primitive social institutions of the Society of Ethnography, Freudian, Gestalt psychology, Marxism, structural linguistics. AL-C. from his youth fond of the works of Marx, believed that the concept of structure is taken to them, in addition to other sources, of Marx and Engels. Despite all the differences of Marxism and psychoanalysis, L.-C. found in them a common, important for his idea: 'Understanding is to reduce one type of reality to another, since the true reality is never the most obvious'.

In an effort to overcome the shortcomings of traditional. rationalism and empiricism, L.-C. offers its own approach, based on the integration of feeling and reason - superratsionalizm: his chapter. idea that the universality of a human. nature lies in the subconscious, exploring in-Roe can obtain objective knowledge about the person constituting the content of new science - 'structural anthropology'. The situation that the structural models used in linguistics (and in many respects similar patterns of Anthropology) is rooted in the unconscious, or in the structure of a human. mind, LA-C. perceived by linguists: de Saussure, Jakobson and Noam Chomsky. As part of his anthropological. theory LN-P. attempted to outline the contours obschesotsiol. theory, an explanation involving rights and chelovech.ob Islands.

He spoke of the need for scientific triad (ethnography, ethnology and anthropology), which allows, starting with registration CONCRETE. facts, go to the first stage of synthesis through the compare method, and then to a higher final stage of synthesis - the stage of structural anthropology, detecting the structural elements of the set-ryh is bessoznat. structure chelovech.razuma.

Multiplicity is not unique to contain. of a complex system of scientific beliefs L.-S., but also for the evolution of his research. They trace the three DOS. stages: analysis of the structural organization of the primitive tribes, improvement of the conceptual apparatus developed his structural anthropology; consideration especially 'thinking savages' and compare, the analysis of myths amer. Indians for more detailed and in-depth study of the universal structures lying in a human. subconscious. The most important work of the first phase was dis. 'Elementary structures of kinship' (1949). With mathematics Weil LS-C. able to build mathematical. model rules of marriage in archaic. on-ax Australians. Later, L.-C. wrote about the possibility of using computers to study myth. He was a pioneer in the use of mathematical. models and computers in ethnology, his works are beings, the value for the mathematization of human knowledge.

To explain the underlying structures of social and cultural phenomena of primitive society AL-C. applied the principle of 'reciprocity', proposed by one of the disciples of Durkheim Mauss, who regarded this principle of an ancient custom of exchanging gifts. Introducing it in ethnology, L.-C. began to consider it as a science, investigating the different types of exchanges in a human. on-ve, and thus approximate it with the science, researching the exchanges of messages, including verbal - from semiotics and linguistics. Ultimately AL-C. inclined to consider as part of the semiotics of Ethnology.

The models selected by the structuralist method, do not reflect the empirical. reality and should not be confused with the structures that the researchers studied the primitive ob-va Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski. Nevertheless, these models are real, although not directly subject. Observation. 'To achieve the model of a true reality, we must go beyond the specific perceived reality'. Mental structures have never understood and do not change in the course of history, they are given by nature itself, as a 'mapping biol. humane nature. brain '. By identifying the structure of the mind, we have identified the structure of the Financials. reality, we can know the structure of the universe. Tourist Office. 'anthropology' AL-C. solves the problem of understanding not only of man and his culture, but also the nature. Structuralism - not just a method, but the outlook, a special Philosophy. system.

A key place in the work of LA-C. is a study of mythology and folklore, it is called the father of the structural typology of myth as an essential part of structural anthropology (which does not underestimate the merits of Propp, who started the structural analysis in this area). AL-C. believed that the mythological. consciousness adequately reflects the 'anatomy of the mind', and therefore gave the problem of the structure will eliminate the myth, meaning, because he never failed attempt to reveal the structure of the mind through the analysis of marriage rules and kinship systems. AL-C. made the transition from symbolic. theory of myth (Jung, Cassirer) to the actual structure, using on operational methods of information theory and structural linguistics. In the article 'The structure of myth' (1955), he not only tries to apply the principles of structural linguistics, folklore, myth and considers the phenomenon of language. The function of myth seen in the initial conflict reconciliation with nature, . and this problem is not solved, . only pushed back and smoothed, . as opposed to the extreme poles are not removed, . and replaced by a pair of opposites is far less,
.

In 'thinking Savages' (1962) AL-C. following Durkheim, but convincingly shows that the most important function of totemism is the classification of natural and social objects. Mythological. Thinking A,-C. characterizes as the ability to generalize, classify and analyze how it is 'scientific', the logical (as opposed to allegations Levy-Bruhl) and no embryonic. It was a human substrate. civilization and, by their logic, in a neck-ryh respects foreshadowed sovr. science. Mythological. logic operates on binary oppositions such as sky / earth, day / night, left / right, and usually does not deal with isolated opposition, and with their ensembles, beam. Identification of binary oppositions is the most important aspects of technique AL-C. Analyzing their diversity and mutual transitions, it shows that mythological thinking is essentially metaphorical, and its meaning is revealed in the endless transformations of images. AL-C. Binary attributes universal, although the mechanism of a human. thinking is not reducible to binary oppositions - it is much more complicated.

Basic Fixes. Topics 'Thinking savages' are developed in the product 'mythological' (1964-71, 4 v.), which is given a thorough assessment of the structure of hundreds of myths (tales) amer. Indians who settled in the thesis of the age-old cultural unity of all American Indians. In this work, LS-C. switched from language to music as an example of myth. Referring to Wagner, who analyzed the myths by means of music, he likens myth music. product and placing it between language and music. Myths, like music, very closely reproduce the universal structures of the unconscious. In the 'mythological' carried out a complete revolution in methods of research povestvovat. folklore and mythology. AL-C. contrasted his method is still the dominant historical geogr. school, which emphasizes on the migratory nature of myths.

In a recent book 'Way of masks' (1979) he drew attention to rule out the similarity of images mythological. creatures with the giant tongue hanging out in the art severoamer. Indians and in the cultures of South-Vost. Asia.

With the development of social anthropology AL-C. tied ODA. socio-utopian. submission: elucidation bessoznat. structure of the mind must make the most important contribution to the future of mankind. Assuming that these fundamental structures are best preserved by the representatives of the primitive tribes, L.-C. gives thus a tribute to the idealization of 'natures. savage state 'in the spirit of Rousseau (Stone Age, he calls the gold, but on the primitive of view to face a break down, the impact of history). He sharply criticizes' sovr. Reports of 'and hopes to eventually realize the hopes of people to live without exploitation, without wars, in full harmony with each other and in harmony with nature. These hopes of AL-C. earned him sympathy from the sovr. representatives of the counterculture and the supporters 'close to nature', amounting to over time, environmen. movement of our days.