Kulturelt betinget kognition. En relancering af ideen om en indoeuropæisk ideologi

Resumé

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this article I examine how and (to some extent) why the Indo-European, tri-functional ideology survived in a number of Indo-European cultures despite the fact that these cultures had been separated in terms of time and space a long time ago. Based on theories promulgated by Georges Dumézil, Jan Assmann, Jeppe Sinding Jensen and Michael Tomasello, I reach the conclusion that the tri-functional ideology survived in an interactive relationship between (1) the narratives of Indo-European cultures (in which the tri-functionality made up the narrative structure) and (2) the culturally based cognitive apparatus of the Indo-Europeans. The Indo-European tri-functionality is thus to be understood as a culturally conditioned cognition and as a cognitively conditioned culture. The tri-functional ideology has survived for many millennia because it was orally transmitted and because, in all probability, it had its origin in a central, Indo-European myth.

DANSK RESUMÉ: Denne artikel forsøger at sandsynliggøre, hvordan og (i nogen grad) hvorfor den indoeuropæiske, trefunktionelle ideologi overlevede i en række indoeuropæiske kulturer, på trods af at disse kulturer havde fjernet sig meget fra hinanden i både tid og rum. På baggrund af teorier af især Georges Dumézil, Jan Assmann, Jeppe Sinding Jensen og Michael Tomasello, hævder jeg, at den trefunktionelle ideologi har overlevet i et vekselvirkningsforhold mellem (1) indoeuropæiske kulturers fortællinger, hvori trefunktionaliteten har udgjort den narrative struktur, og (2) indoeuropæernes kulturelt baserede kognitive apparat. Den indoeuropæiske trefunktionalitet skal dermed forstås som kulturelt betinget kognition og som kognitivt betinget kultur. Den trefunktionelle ideologi har overlevet i mange tusinde år, fordi den blev overleveret mundtligt og fordi den givetvis har sit udspring i en for indoeuropæerne central myte.