The social life of numbers : a Quechua ontology of numbers and philosophy of arithmetic

Book

The social life of numbers : a Quechua ontology of numbers and philosophy of arithmetic / Gary Urton with the collaboration of Primitivo Nina Llanos.

Urton, Gary, 1946- (Author). Nina Llanos, Primitivo. (Added Author).

Summary:

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.

Record details

ISBN: 0292785348
ISBN: 9780292785342
ISBN: 029278533X
ISBN: 9780292785335
Physical Description: xv, 267 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st University of Texas Press ed.
Publisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, 1997.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-253) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: 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.
Action Note:: committed to retain 20160630 20310630 EAST http://eastlibraries.org/retained-materials This title retained by Wesleyan University Library on behalf of the Eastern Academic Scholars Trust (EAST) print archive