truthspecies. Members believe that they are descendents of some animal,
which results in the group assuming the name and identities of some
mythical animal of whom living animals are their offspring. In practical
terms, this means that members of the bear clan, for instance, do not kill
bears, although they may use the meat and hide of the animal if someone
from another clan kills the bear. Not only are totem animals held in rever-
ence, they are also called upon in critical situations by members because
they are believed to offer protection.
Totemism attracts the attention of Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), a
French sociologist, because he is interested in its social implications. A
clan’s identification with a totem animal means that no one can eat the
totem, and a member cannot marry within the clan because of their rela-
tionship to the totem. Thus beyond blood relationships there are wider
clan relations with totems that have to be considered. Durkheim finds
totemism a rational belief, even though it is mistaken because there
cannot be a physical kinship between humans and totem animals.Further reading: Durkheim (1915); Frazer (1910); Freud (1919); Lévi-Strauss
(1962)TRUTH
By revealing itself as it is, this simple definition obscures its complexity and
diversity in a cross-cultural context. Different religious traditions identify the
truth with their God, highest reality, doctrines, or beliefs. The truth is often
cross-culturally associated with absolute certainty, human experience, value,
accurate knowledge, reality, harmony, salvation, or liberation. In short,
each particular religion thinks that its position represents the absolute truth,
while other religions are either false or represent a relative form of truth.
In recent intellectual history, the general religious claim that truth is
certain, absolute, and possesses an essence is disputed by postmodern
thinkers. From the perspective of Michel Foucault, truth is produced
through power, and there is no way to exercise power except by means
of truth. Other postmodern thinkers view truth as epistemologically and
ontologically relative because of the contextual nature of meaning and
the relational nature of being. The postmodern philosopher Jacques
Derrida does not presume to disclose the truth in his works because they
are prefatory in nature, and they are thus an impossible means of reveal-
ing the truth in a conclusive sense. Since there is no truth as such for
Derrida, truth cannot be singular; it can only be plural.