How archaic man learned and mastered the world (cultural-semiotic explanation)

Abstract

The article presents a cultural-semiotic reconstruction and explanation of the formation of archaic culture and some paradoxical ideas of people of that time for our consciousness (understanding of the eclipse, marital relations as hunting, technology). The culturological approach is explained and a new interpretation of semiotic concepts (signs, knowledge, schemes, models) is proposed as complementary, ensuring the integrity of archaic semiosis. The question is raised about how the archaic man knew and mastered the world around him and himself, what sources scientists rely on in trying to answer this question. It turns out that the knowledge and development of the world by an archaic person needs to be reconstructed and this is a very difficult task, given the strangeness and incomprehensibility of archaic ideas. The author shows that schemes are created and function based on signs and knowledge, and models differ from schemes, firstly, by the way objects are specified (the scheme sets its own object, and the model assumes the preliminary existence of the simulated object), secondly, by operational capabilities (the model allows you to calculate and predict what is impossible for the scheme). On the basis of the introduced semiotic concepts, the reconstruction of the formation of archaic culture is planned, including the invention of the soul scheme, its extension to natural and social phenomena, the explanation of sacrifices, eclipses, marriage rituals. In conclusion, the magical nature of the archaic technique is explained in this way.