Agriculture replaces nomadic presentism with past-and-future rooted identity

Evidence

Against Gadamer he insists that ‘the reflected appropriation of tradition breaks up the nature-like substance of tradition and alters the position of the subject in it.’ One feature of modernization is precisely that ‘the need for understanding’ is less ‘covered in advance by an interpreted lifeworld immune from critique’ and more ‘met by the interpretive accomplishments of the participants themselves, that is, by way of risky (because rationally motivated) agreement’. This shift in the relative weight in taken in speech by the lifeworld and the pursuit of rationally motivated agreement is bound up with the general process of rationalization. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 390 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Tradition does not mean something fixed. It is, rather, a recognition of the embodied character of all discourse. “It is a special sort of discursive concept in the sense that it performs a distinctive kind of labour; it seeks to connect authoritatively, within the structure of its narrative, a relation among past, community and identity. It depends upon a play of conflict and contention. It is a space of dispute as much as of consensus, of discourse as much as of accord” (Scott 1999). — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 401 (#expands, via linked claim)

Their advanced symbolizing capacity enabled humans to transcend the dictates of their immediate environment and made them unique in their power to shape their environment and life courses. Through cognitive self-regulation, humans can visualize futures that act as present guides and motivators for purposeful behavior; order preferences rooted in personal values; construct, evaluate, and modify alternative courses of action to secure valued outcomes; and override environmental influences if necessary. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 154 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Tradition discursively connects past, community, and identity. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 401; Humans can override environmental dictates through symbolic future-thinking — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 154; Modernization shifts understanding from inherited tradition to risky rational agreement — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 390 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Tradition discursively connects past, community, and identity. #expands (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 401
• Modernization shifts understanding from inherited tradition to risky rational agreement #contradicts (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 390
• Humans can override environmental dictates through symbolic future-thinking #contradicts (0.70) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 154