"die individuelle Nahrungssuche",[1] i. e., every individual looks after himself without troubling about the welfare of his fellow creatures. Schurtz utters a doubt about this hypothesis, principally having regard to the fact that man at any rate never stands isolated in relation to his forefathers; they and he together form what the writer calls a Dauergruppe, and the descendants build upon the experience of the ancestors.[2] It will not be discussed here as to whether this view — however correct it may be in itself — actually demolishes Bücher's opinion, which only seems to deal with the existing generation, and not with society through the ages. But even without regard to the criticism quoted, the hypothesis is doubtful enough.
Even among such a primitive people as the Caribou Eskimo the family, and not the individual, is the smallest economic unit. "Etres trop jeunes dont les ascendants doivent entretenir la vie, êtres trop vieux qui ne peuvent plus s'assurer par eux-mêmes les ressources vitales, dépendent pour leur vie même — nourriture, abri, vêtement — du travail des adultes".[3] Despite infanticide and the killing of the aged, it is hardly probable that it has ever been otherwise, and infanticide at any rate, which is so strongly opposed to the parental instinct,[4] is hardly any primitive feature. What is more, the settlement in certain respects appears as a still bigger economic unit than the family. Doubtless it cannot be denied that most hunting methods are individual; this even applies to a certain degree to the important caribou hunt at the crossing places over the rivers and lakes, in contrast to the effective organisation of this hunting by the Chipewyan. But on the other hand there are hunting methods which are in fact based upon the cooperation of several persons, for instance caribou hunting by means of deer fences. It might be objected that this cooperation is not very prominent, nor is it a duty. It is true that it does not play any particularly prominent part (although the introduction of firearms has contributed towards this), and, significantly enough, working songs — "shanties" — which lighten rhythmic, joint labour,[5] seem to be unknown among these Eskimos; but cooperative work is there all the same. That it is not what we call a duty is correct, in so far as no duties are definitely formulated. Society as such cannot even compel any one to fend for himself or to observe the religious
- ↑ Bücher 1911; 27. Cf. ibid. p. 10: "Jedes Individuum verzehrt sofort, was es findet (!); eine gemeinsame Haushaltung giebt es ebensowenig als ein Haus (!). Nur wenn ein grösseres Tier erlegt oder verendet aufgefunden wird . . . sammelt sich die ganze Gruppe, und jeder verschlingt, soviel er kann."
- ↑ ". . . auch wirtschaftlich ist der einzelne Mensch niemals und nirgends ein selbständiges Wesen, sondern immer das Glied einer Dauergruppe". (Schurtz 1900; 212). Cf. also Vierkandt 1896; 88.
- ↑ Brunhes 1925; I 55.
- ↑ Cf. Mc Dougall 1924; 69 seq.
- ↑ Cf. Bücher 1909; 38 seqq.
