Anthropos 92.1997: 165-173
Savage Thought and Thoughtful Savages
On the Context of the Evaluation of Logical Thought
by Lévy-Bruhl and Evans-Pritchard
Andreas Heinz
Abstract. - Evans-Pritchard’s “Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic
among the Azande” promoted a fundamental change in the way
anthropology views the logic of “primitive” mind. This change
was achieved by implicitly refuting Levy-Bruhl’s concept of
“prelogical mentality.” Disputing the formal inconsistency and
the incomprehensibility of “primitive” thought implied far-
reaching social consequences. Evans-Pritchard belonged to a
new generation of anthropologists who tried to explain their
change of paradigm by pointing to their direct encounter with
“primitive” men. However, the barely mentioned background
of this experience is set by different patterns of colonial
rule, interacting with the produced anthropological discourse.
[Prelogical thought, magic, evolutionism, changing paradigms,
colonialism]
Andreas Heinz, medical studies at the Ruhr-Universität Bo
chum and Freie Universität Berlin, state exam 1987, M.D.
1988; clinical work at the Neurological University Clinic St.
Josefs Hospital Bochum and the Department of Psychiatry
of the Freie Universität Berlin, medical board certification
in neurology 1993, in psychiatry and neurology 1994, psy
chotherapy 1995; philosophical and anthropological studies at
the Freie Universität Berlin, M.A. (Philosophy) 1994; since
1995 research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health,
Washington DC, funded by a Habilitation grant of the DFG. -
Publications in Journal of Neural Transmission, Pharmacopsy
chiatry, Psychiatry Research, Archives of General Psychiatry,
Kriminologisches Journal, Beiträge zur nationalsozialistischen
Gesundheits- und Sozialpolitik.
Introduction
Contemporary social anthropology focuses on the
narrative style of the ethnographers (Geertz
1988: 9). How do they present the “there” and how
important is the legitimizing allusion to the “grand
narratives” that separate the “here” from the
“there” (Lyotard 1993: xxiv)? This essay centers
on the interaction of attitudes and expectations
and the produced discourse. Reviewing Evans-
Pritchard’s “Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among
the Azande” it will be examined which theo
ries and practices prestructured the work, how
they influenced the encounter with the objects
of field research and how the produced text influ
enced the conceptualization of “primitive thought”
at “home.”
Evans-Pritchard’s work is specifically suited for
such an analysis, as his description of magical
thought of the Azande marks a turning point in
the evaluation of “primitive thought.” His work
has to be seen against the background of the grand
systems of Tylor (1903) and Lévy-Bruhl (1985
[1910]), who tried to describe “primitive” thought
as a “prelogical” or an “antecedent stage” of our
own developmental stage. It is well known that
Tylor and Lévy-Bruhl based their approach on
the material provided by other European travel
ers without ever meeting any so-called “primitive
man” face to face. While their systems stressed
the alleged undeveloped or incomprehensible state
of “primitive” thought, Malinowski argued that
magical practices are useful for the individual (Ma
linowski [1929] 1987: lxxvi-lxxix). Malinowski’s
new point of view is obviously linked to his field
research, which allowed him to experience the
function of the different practices in the context of
the social life of the community (Kuper 1983: 75).
Thus, however, the problem arose how to under
stand the functional purpose of seemingly destruc
tive practices such as the persecution of witches in
“primitive” societies. Another problem was close
ly linked: if personal contact allows “primitive
men” to be seen as actors who perform utilitar
ian choices, how can it be explained that they
believe in such obvious nonsense like witchcraft
and magic (Kuper 1983: 78)? If these questions
were to be answered without recycling depreciat
ing concepts of “undeveloped thought” or the “in
ability to think logically,” a new approach had to
be found that defined the methods of observation
and the evaluation of their results. Evans-Pritchard
established such a new paradigm with his descrip
tion of witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the
Azande.
To do so, he engaged in field research in
southern Sudan, then an “Anglo-Egypt Condo
minium.” Great Britain and Egypt had been co