Intimations of Infinity: The Cultural Meanings of the Iqwaye Counting and Number Systems

by Jadran Mimica

Overview

This is a remarkable work which captures the reader's imagination as only few books do. From a description of the counting system of Iqwaye people of Papua New Guinea, the author develops a deeper and broader interpretation of the Iqwaye kinship system and cosmology, culminating in a powerful critique of western assumptions about the development of rational thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780854961450
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/01/1988
Series:	Explorations in Anthropology
Pages:	198
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jadran Mimica Lecturer in Anthropology,University College London

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Counting System 3. The Authentic Constitution of the Numerical Series 4. The Counting System in the Light of the Iqwaye View of the Cosmos 5. The Image of Cosmic Totality and the Primordial Senses of Infinity, 6. Iqwaye Counting, the Mathematical Infinite and the Problem of the Understanding of other Mathematical Realities 7. Number and the Existential Foundations of Anthropological Understanding of Other Cultures, Afterword: Some Comments on the Iqwaye Mathematic

Editorial Reviews

... impressive not only for those who specialise in anthropology but for anyone concerned with understanding man.” —Mainichi Daily News

“... complex, wide-ranging, provocative, irritating, unorthodox and most stimulating.” —Canberra Anthropology

“... this book is without parallel...ethnographically rich and philosophically informed.” —Oceania

“... Mimica has carried through a quite original piece of work and thought. This really is the kind of 'new anthropology' for which the discipline is searching.” —Professor Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge

From the Publisher

... Mimica has carried through a quite original piece of work and thought. This really is the kind of 'new anthropology' for which the discipline is searching.

University of Cambridge Professor Marilyn Strathern

... this book is without parallel...ethnographically rich and philosophically informed.

Oceania

... complex, wide-ranging, provocative, irritating, unorthodox and most stimulating.

Canberra Anthropology

... impressive not only for those who specialise in anthropology but for anyone concerned with understanding man.

Mainichi Daily News