This is odd. If our thoughts about misfortunes were designed to avoid
further occurrences, it would make much more sense to focus on the
proximate causes, on the actual ways in which we are made to fall ill or
risk our lives. So even if the question "Why did I fall ill?" is natural, the
particular way in which people formulate it requires some explanation.
We ask questions in a particular way because our inference systems
suggest the formatof a possible answer. Questions do not spring by
themselves out of events; they only appear in a mind that is already
considering the events from a particular angle. For instance, the ques-
tion "Why did they make this fork out of rubber?" is natural because
[198] we have a special system in the mind that connects artifacts to possible
functions and that therefore perceives a discrepancy between the usual
function of forks and the features of that particular utensil. The same
may well apply to our spontaneous way of thinking about misfortune.
MISFORTUNE AS SOCIAL INTERACTION
This is commonplace among anthropologists: misfortune is generally
interpreted in socialterms. We have social relations, we have been in
complex social interaction for hundreds of thousands of years,
because we have the specialized mental capacities that social life
requires. We have special equipment to recognize our kin in a group,
we know how to deal with group members as opposed to outsiders,
we have intuitions about whether people are trustworthy or not, we
have inference systems that pay special attention to cheating and
defection and produce specific emotions when principles of social
exchange are violated.
Consider our examples in this light. The Kwaio say that the ances-
tors sent people some disease because they wanted some sacrifice. In
some cases people admit that they should have performed the sacrifice
to start with, that they neglected a particular ancestor or failed to
maintain proper relations with him. Note that these are clearly con-
strued as exchange relations. Ancestors provide some form of protec-
tion and people provide roasted pigs in sacrifice. In some cases people
tend to think that the ancestors are "pushing it" a bit and they feel jus-
tifiably resentful. This is the kind of emotion we find in situations
where one party seems to be increasing benefits without paying
increased costs. The relationships with ancestors are represented in a
mental system that is usually activated by situations of social exchange.RELIGION EXPLAINED