The epidemiology of spirit

Fifty years ago Umesao Tadao began a comparative study of civilizations. His ecological view of history （文明の生態史観） holds that the functional analysis of how the components of a culture work together is more telling than knowing where each of the components came from. For example, the development of Japanese society is more similar to Western Europe than of the geographically closer Chinese civilization, even though many parts of Japanese culture can be traced back to China.

Umesao also advanced an analogy between religion and disease or an epidemiology of spirit—not that he thought religion was an infective mental illness à la Dawkins. Umesao was concerned with how religions migrate and disseminate.

I can’t recall if Sperber ever made reference to Umesao regarding his (Sperber’s) epidemiology of culture. Perhaps the idea is older than the both of them. Perhaps what we need is an epidemiology of ecological views of history.

References

• 梅棹忠雄（１９６５）比較宗教論への方法論的覚え書き。人文学報　２１。京都大学人文科学研究所。
• Umesao, Tadao (2003). Methodological notes on comparative religion. In An Ecological View of History. Trans. Beth Cury. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.