Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, Phenomenological Structuralism, and the Resolution of the Structure/Agency Problematic of the Social Sciences
Global Journal of Archaeology & Anthropology September 20, 2018 DOI: 10.19080/gjaa.2018.06.555697 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Haitian Vodou's ontology and epistemology constitute a form of transcendental idealism and realism, termed "Haitian/Vilokan Idealism," which yields a hermeneutical phenomenology, materialism, and an antidialectical history grounded in reciprocal justice. Proposes that this framework supports a theory and methodology, "phenomenological structuralism," for resolving the structure/agency problematic in the social sciences. |
Abstract
The demystification of the Vodou religion or ontology as practiced in Haiti, epistemologically, reveals a form of transcendental idealism and realism, Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, which produces a hermeneutical phenomenology, materialism, and an antidialectical process to history enframed by a reciprocal justice as its normative ethics.The latter is constantly being invoked by individual social actors to reconcile the noumenal (sacred-ideational) and phenomenal (profane-material) subjective world to maintain balance and harmony between the two so that human actors can live freely and happy in a material resource framework where they are the masters of their own existence without masters or owners of production.In this work, I conclude that a theory and methodology, phenomenological structuralism, can be deduced from the ontology, epistemology, and sociology of Vodou to resolve the structure/agency problematic of the social sciences.