Geography and the Human Spirit

Download or read book Geography and the Human Spirit written by Anne Buttimer and published by . This book was released on 1993-03 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faust symbolizes the next phase, the typically Western drive to build structures, institutions, and legal frameworks around such new ideas. But tensions inevitably arise between Faust and Phoenix - between structure and the original emancipatory spirit. Then Narcissus appears, critically reflecting on the situation and eventually choosing one of two alternatives: falling in love with his own image or undergoing painful liberation from past certainties to welcome a new Phoenix. Buttimer uses these symbols to reflect on four ways in which the world has been perceived both in the Western cultural tradition and in other traditions throughout history: the world as a mosaic of forms, as a mechanical system, as an organic whole, and as an arena of spontaneous events.