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Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity of Texas Press

ISBN-100292785348

ISBN-139780292785342

eBay Product ID (ePID)706828

Product Key Features

Number of Pages285 Pages

Publication NameSocial Life of Numbers : a Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1997

SubjectNative American Languages, Indigenous Studies, Anthropology / General

TypeLanguage Course

Subject AreaForeign Language Study, Social Science

AuthorGary Urton

FormatMass Market

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight27 Oz

Item Length9.1 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN97-000598

ReviewsThis is an extraordinary book. It is easily readable even for the non-mathematically inclined and non-Andeanists. It deals with issues of why one counts, what is counted, and how arithmetic operations are used in social life.

TitleLeadingThe

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal510/.98

Table Of ContentList of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments 1. Anthropology and the Philosophy of Arithmetic 2. The Cardinal Numbers and Their Social Relations 3. Ordinal Numerals: The Reproduction and Succession of Numbers 4. Yupay: Counting, Recounting, and the Fabric of Numbers 5. Quechua Arithmetic as an Art of Rectification 6. Numbers and Arithmetic in Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Andean Societies 7. Conclusions Appendix: Quechua Number Symbols and Metaphors Notes Bibliography Index

SynopsisUnraveling all the mysteries of the khipu--the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies--will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes. Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life., Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu --the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies--will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes. Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life.

LC Classification NumberF2230.2.K4U79 1997