Email this article The Gift Paradigm: Towards a Science of “total social facts”
Abstract
Abstract
In this essay I argue that Marcel Mauss’s “Essay on the Gift” (1925) is not only intended to inaugurate a new paradigm on the terrain of ethnology and anthropology, but at the same time to make the gift a kind of novum organum of the social sciences and of moral and political philosophy itself. In the first part, I reconstructed the critique that M. Merleau-Ponty and C. Lefort have made to Lévi-Strauss’s “structuralist” reading of Mauss, and, in a second part, I emphasised the importance that M. Hénaff assigned to the ceremonial gift of traditional societies as an intentional procedure of public mutual recognition between groups. But, using some of A. Caillé’s indications, I explain that this device of mutual recognition and alliance, characteristic of the gift cycle (giving/receiving/ reciprocating) also applies in modern societies whenever legal-political institutions become sclerotized and lose their legitimacy in the face of new actors in political action (newcomers or new arrivals, to use the Arendtian category of natality in a broad sense).
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Aime, M. (2013). Dono, dunque siamo. Otto buone ragioni per credere in una società solidale. Torino: UTET.
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Benhabib, S. (2006). Another cosmopolitanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183221.001.0001
Berman, A. (1984). L'épreuve de l'étranger: culture et traduction dans l'Allemagne romantique. Herder, Goethe, Schlegel, Novalis, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hölderlin. Paris: Gallimard. Eng. transl. by S. Heyvaert, The experience of the foreign: Culture and translation in romantic Germany. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1992.
Bodei, R. (1991). Geometria delle passioni. Milano: Feltrinelli.
Bonfantini, M., Fabbrichesi, R., & Zingale, S. (2015). Su Peirce. Interpretazioni, ricerche, prospettive. Milano: Bompiani.
Caillé, A. (2014). Anti-utilitarisme et paradigme du don. Pour quoi? Lormont: Le Bord de l'eau.
Chatwin, B. (1987). The songlines. London: Franklin Press.
Cristofolini, P. (2009). La scienza intuitiva di Spinoza. Pisa: ETS.
Descombe, V. (1996). Les institutions du sens. Paris: Éditions de Minuit. Eng. transl. by S. A. Schwartz, The institutions of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
Dupuy, J.-P. (2003). Pour un catastrophisme éclairé. Quand l'impossible devient certain. Paris: Seuil. Eng. transl. by M. B. DeBevoise & M. R. Anspach, How to think about catastrophe: Toward a theory of enlightened doomsaying. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.14321/j.ctv2pxk61q
Eco, U., & Sebeok, T. A. (1983). The sign of three: Holmes, Dupin, Peirce. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Favole, A. (2016). La bussola dell'antropologo. Roma - Bari: Laterza.
Fistetti, F. (1992). Democrazia e diritti degli altri. Oltre lo Stato-nazione. Bari: Palomar.
Fistetti, F. (2017). Convivialità. Una filosofia per il XXI secolo. Genova: Il nuovo melangolo.
Gramsci, A. (1975). Quaderni del carcere, Vol. II. Torino: Einaudi.
Gramsci, A. (1995). The philosophy of Benedetto Croce. In Further selections from the Prison Notebooks (pp. 498-524). Eng. transl. by D. Boothman. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Habermas, J. (1962). Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit. Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Neuwied - Berlin: Luchterhand. Eng. transl. by T. Burger & F. Lawrence, The structural transformation of the public sphere: An Inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1989.
Habermas, J. (1968). Erkenntnis und Interesse. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag. Eng. transl. by J. J. Shapiro, Knowledge and human interests. Boston: Polity Press, 1971.
Habermas, J. (1973). A postscript to Knowledge and human interests. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 3(2), 157-189.
https://doi.org/10.1177/004839317300300204
Hénaff, M. (2008). Claude Lévi-Strauss, le passeur de sens. Perrin: Paris.
Hénaff, M. (2012). Le don des philosophes. Repenser la réciprocité. Paris: Seuil. Eng. transl. by J.-L. Morhange, The philosophers' gift: Re-examining reciprocity. New York: Fordham University Press, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823286478.001.0001
Hénaff, M. (2017). Au risque de soi. Parler, donner, attester. La Revue du MAUSS, 50(2), 64-84.
https://doi.org/10.3917/rdm.050.0064
Hénaff, M. (2018). La città che viene. Roma: Castelvecchi.
Honneth, A. (1992). Kampung um Anerkennung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag. Eng. transl. by J. Anderson, The struggle for recognition: The moral grammar of social conflicts. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995.
Lefort, C. (1974). Esquisse d'une genèse de l'idéologie dans les sociétés modernes. Textures, 8-9, 3-54. Repris dans C. Lefort, Les formes de l'histoire. Essais d'anthropologie politique (pp. 481-482). Paris: Gallimard, 1978.
Levinas, E. (1961). Totalité et infini. Paris: La Haye. Eng. transl. by A. Lingis, Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1969.
Lévi-Strauss, C. 1965 (1950). Introduction à l'œuvre de Marcel Mauss. Paris: PUF. Eng. transl. by F. Baker, Introduction to the work of March Mauss. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987.
Maddalena, G. (2005). Introduzione a C. S. Peirce, Scritti scelti (pp. 9-44). Torino: Utet.
Mauss, M. (1902-1903). Esquisse d'une théorie générale de la magie. Eng. transl. by R. Brain, A general theory of magic. London - New York: Routledge, 1972 (2001).
Mauss, M. (1925). Essai sur le don. Paris: PUF. Eng. transl. by W. D. Halls, The gift: The form and reason for exchange in Archaic societies. London - New York: Routledge, 2002.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203407448
Mauss, M. (1997). Écrits politiques. Paris: Fayard.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1960). Signes. Paris: Gallimard. Eng. transl. by R. Mc Clarey, Signs. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964.
Mouffe, C. (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the world politically. London - New York: Verso.
Nancy, J.-L. (2018). Cosa resta della gratuità? Milano: Mimesis.
https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823279944.003.0010
Pennacchi, L. (2015). Il soggetto dell'economia. Dalla crisi a un nuovo modello di sviluppo. Roma: Ediesse.
Prosperi, A. (2016). Identità. L'altra faccia della storia. Roma - Bari: Laterza.
Pulcini, E. (2001). L'individuo senza passioni. Individualismo moderno e perdita del legame sociale. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Pulcini, E. (2011). Invidia. La passione triste. Bologna: il Mulino.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sen, A. (2000). Lo sviluppo è libertà. Milano: Mondadori.
Spinoza, B. (1954). Ethics. Edited with an Introduction by J. Gutmann. New York: Hafner Publishing Company.
Toto, F. (2013). Amicizia, gelosia e gratitudine nell'Etica di Benedetto Spinoza. In Consecutio temporum. Hegeliana/Marxiana/Freudiana, 2(4), 270-287.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7358/elementa-2023-0102-fisf
Copyright (©) 2023 Francesco Fistetti – Editorial format and Graphical layout: copyright (©) LED Edizioni Universitarie
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Announcements
Call for papers Vol 4 (2024) - No 1-2 - "Sustainability"
Authors have to read through the Information for Authors and the Author guidelines carefully before beginning the submission process.
- Deadline for paper submission: March 31, 2024 (philosophical essays) – July 25, 2024 (epistemological and pedagogical essays)
- Notification of paper acceptance: April 1, 2024 (philosophical essays) – July 27, 2024 (epistemological and pedagogical essays)
- Request for revision following peer review: April 15, 2024 (philosophical essays) – September 15, 2024 (epistemological and pedagogical essays)
- Deadline for revised version submission: April 30, 2024 (philosophical essays) – September 30, 2024 (epistemological and pedagogical essays
- Publication: June 30, 2024 (philosophical essays) – December 15, 2024 (epistemological and pedagogical essays)
Elementa. Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology and Empirical Perspectives
Registered by Tribunale di Milano 2361/2021 (29/12/2021) - RG n. 16898/2021
Electronic edition ISSN 2785-4426 - Print edition ISSN 2785-4558
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici - Università degli Studi di Foggia
Chief Editor: Paolo Ponzio
Editorial Board: Luigi Traetta (Co-chief editor) - Giusi Antonia Toto (Co-chief Editor) - Antonio Ascione - Oscar Barroso - Alessandra Beccarisi - Leonardo Carlucci - Marco Ceccarelli - Antonio Clericuzio - Antonio Criado - Jean-Paul De Lucca - Raffaele Di Fuccio - Davide Di Palma - Ricardo Espinoza Lolas - Costantino Esposito - Marco Forlivesi - Teun Koetsier - Francesco Marrone - Gilles Olivò - Carla Rita Palmerino - Pasquale Porro - Francesca Romana Recchia Luciani - Alessia Scarinci - Domenico Tafuri - Baichun Zhang.
Editorial Staff: Tommaso Sgarro (managing editor) - Lucia Borrelli - Marco di Furia - Federica Doronzo - Francesca Finestrone - Piergiorgio Guarini - Maria Anna Misuriello - Giuliana Nardacchione - Guendalina Peconio - Sara Perrella - Benedetta Ragni - Martina Rossi - Daniela Savino - Luigi Tateo.
© 2001 LED Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto