The evolution of consciousness: identity and personality in historical perspective

Abstract

The development of language in human evolution made possible complex social relations. This development led to cultural diversity rather than to uniformity. An important part of such diversity is different ways of constructing and specifying persons as social agents. ‘Consciousness’ is defined as the capacity to construct and narrate courses of action. Different forms of personality, therefore, affect capacities for action. The paper considers such capacities by examining circumstances in which hitherto alien cultures and societies clash. It concentrates on the example of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the early sixteenth century, and argues that cultural differences and different modes of construction of persons as social actors were a major factor in facilitating the conquest. It is neither concerned to defend the Conquistadoresnor to claim that greater praxeologial effectiveness conferred on their actions superior moral worth, quite the contrary. The Spanish conquest is used to illustrate the phenomenon of distinct societies modes of specifying persons through and as culture.

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