Daniel Quinn's Vision Of History
Beauty is often described as being in the eye of the beholder. In this sense beauty is viewed as a subjective consideration and so its appreciation is a matter of taste and perspective. Likewise, events that take place in the history of the world can often be subject to interpretation depending on the viewpoint of the observer or researcher. But what about the idea of the "world's history?" Not any specific event or series of events that took place at a given time in history but the actual history of the world in the most general sense (Interview). Is this subject to interpretation?
The View According to Man
According to Daniel Quinn in the book Ishmael, the answer is a resounding 'yes.' There are, indeed, different ways to view the "world's history." On the one hand is the dominant Taker view represented by modern society in the 'person' of Mother Culture who "has given [us] an explanation of how things came to be this way." (40). Mother Culture represents, essentially, the indoctrination that all members of modern industrial society receive as members of this dominant Taker culture. Of course, indoctrination may be too harsh a word for this concept. In reality, the story told by Mother Culture is simply there. No one sits children down at an early age to inculcate them in any way. Instead, the ideas are "ambient in [our] culture. Everyone knows it and everyone accepts it without question." (40).
The story according to Mother Culture indicates that human history began approximately ten thousand years ago with the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Before this Neolithic revolution "The limitation of the hunting-gathering life had kept man in check for three million years. With agriculture, those limitations vanished... Settlement gave rise to division of labor. Division of labor gave rise to technology." And so forth. (69).
By implication, all time before this Neolithic revolution is considered pre-history - in effect, pre-man. This much is clear when Ishmael asks his student to relate for him the story of creation as he sees it. From man's point-of-view, the story of creation ends with the words "and finally man appeared." (56). Specifically:
t]he pinnacle was reached in man. Man is the climax of the whole cosmic drama of creation... When man finally appeared, creation came to an end, because its objective had been reached. There was nothing left to create... Man is the end product of creation. Man is the creature for whom all the rest was made: this world, this solar system, this galaxy, the universe itself (57).
So, in a nutshell, the Taker view is that the "world was made for man, and man was made to rule it..." (72). In fact, Mother Culture describes this time before history: "human life was devoid of meaning, was stupid, empty and worthless. Pre-Revolutionary life was ugly. Detestable." (216).
The View According to the World
But there is another view/story of the world - that held by a group called by Quinn the Leaver culture. This group takes the point-of-view that "Man is not alone on this planet. He is part of a community, upon which he depends absolutely... The community of life..." (90). Instead of seeing man as the end product of evolution and natural selection (i.e. The "pinnacle"), Leavers see him as but one part of a very complex whole. Where Takers think that the world belongs to them, Leavers think that man belongs to the world. And because Leavers treat man as part of the world, then man is still subject to both evolution and natural selection. On the other hand, Takers have removed themselves from this process by their actions toward the world (more on this below) (240).
The story according to the Leaver culture began around three million years ago (long before the Neolithic revolution) and continues to a limited degree into the present day. To visualize this progression of events, picture a time line beginning about three million years ago with an arrow through to the present day. Label this line Leaver Culture. From this main line note an offshoot around 8500 B.C. At which time agriculture is developed in the Fertile Crescent. Label this line Taker Culture. At the division point only a very small part of the world practices agriculture (that small area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). Surrounding this Crescent are many examples of...
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