Philosophical ideas in spiritual culture of the indigenous peoples of north America

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Philosophical ideas in spiritual culture of the indigenous peoples of north America

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal philosophical ideas in the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of North America. An important question: "Can we assume that the spiritual culture of the American Indians contained philosophical knowledge?" remains relevant today. For example, European philosophy is defined by appeals to philosophers of the past, their texts. The philosophical tradition is characterized by rational argumentation and formulation of philosophical questions that differ from the questions of ordinary language. However, the problem lies in the term "philosophy", which belongs to the so-called "philosophical untranslatability" and has many definitions.

The question of whether philosophy is exclusively a phenomenon of European culture is still controversial. In the article, the concept of philosophy is used in a broad sense, which allows the analysis of the intellectual heritage of the culture of the indigenous people of North America for philosophical ideas. Theoretical basis of the study consists of primary sources, which are limited due to the "documentary horizon". It contains myths about the Twins, ritual rhetoric, examples of dream interpretation practices and the practical wisdom of tribal chiefs. The Chronicle of "Vallamolum", or "the Red List", testifies to the special idea of the Indians about history and their own historicity. Analysis of cosmogonical and cosmological ideas reveals the special features of the anthropological ideas of the North American Indians. Combined with the philosophical ideas of the Puritan philosophy of the settlers of New England, this analysis allows us to explore in more detail the processes of acculturation. The study uses critical literature from scholars and leading researchers of the wisdom and philosophy of Native Americans, such as Michael Yellow Bird, J. Baird Callicott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dennis H. McPherson, Lewis Henri Morgan, Thomas M. Norton-Smith, J. Douglas Rabb, Paul Radin, Jon Ewbank Manchip White. The views of early American philosophers: R. Williams, W. Penn, R. W. Emerson, on the problem of the relationship between the culture of settlers and the indigenous people of North America are noteworthy. Originality lies in the application of historical and philosophical methodology, identifying the features of philosophizing in the spiritual culture and worldview of the indigenous people of North America. Conclusions. In the conclusions, the obtained results complement the history of the origin and development of philosophical thought of the early American philosophy.

Keywords: history of philosophy; philosophical anthropology; history of American philosophy; early American philosophy; culture of indigenous North America.

Анотація

Аннотация

Философские идеи в духовной культуре коренного населения Северной Америки

С.В. Руденко, Я.А. Соболевский

Гуандунский университет нефтехимических технологий (Маомин, Китай),

Киевский национальный университет имени Тараса Шевченко (Киев, Украина),

Цель статьи заключается в раскрытии философских идей в мифологии и фольклоре индейцев Северной Америки. Важный вопрос "Можно ли считать, что духовная культура американских индейцев содержала философское знание?" на сегодняшний день остается актуальным. Для европейской философии наличие обращений к философам прошлого, к их текстам, рациональная аргументация и постановка философских вопросов свидетельствуют о философской традиции. В данном вопросе, проблема кроется уже в самом термине "философия", который относится к так называемым "философским непереводимостям" и имеет много дефиниций. Вопрос о том, является ли философия явлением исключительно европейской культуры, до сих пор вызывает дискуссии.

В связи с этим в статье понятие философии употребляется в широком смысле, что позволяет осуществить анализ интеллектуального наследия культуры коренного населения Северной Америки на предмет философских идей. Теоретический базис исследования, учитывая "документальный горизонт", содержит мифы о Близнецах, обрядовую риторику, примеры практик толкования сновидений и практическую мудрость вождей. Летопись "Валламолум" ("Красный Перечень") свидетельствует об особом представлении индейцев об истории и собственной историчности. Идеи космогонического и космологического характера при анализе позволяют выявить особые черты антропологических представлений американских индейцев. В совокупности с философскими идеями пуританской философии поселенцев Новой Англии этот анализ позволяет более детально исследовать процессы аккультурации. В исследовании используется критическая литература ученых и ведущих исследователей мудрости и философии американских индейцев, таких как Джон Евбанк Манчип Уайт, Дж. Б. Калликотт, Генри Уодсворт Лонгфелло, Деннис МакФерсон, Льюис Генри Морган, Томас М. Нортон-Смит, Майкл Желтая Птица, Пол Радин, Джей Дуглас Раббе. Отдельно упоминаются взгляды ранних американских философов Р. Вильямса, В. Пенна, Р. У. Эмерсона, на проблему взаимосвязи культуры поселенцев и коренного населения Северной Америки. Научная новизна заключается в применении историко-философской методологии в выявлении черт философствования, присущих мировоззрению коренного населения Северной Америки. Выводы. Как вывод, это дополняет историческую картину развития философской мысли эпохи ранней американской философии.

Ключевые слова: история философии; философская антропология; история американской философии; ранняя американская философия; культура американских индейцев.

Introduction

In the 15th century, Europeans met with the indigenous peoples of North America, historically called the Indians. The culture of the aborigines directly and indirectly influenced the worldview of the settlers, and the process of acculturation turned out to be quite dynamic and ambiguous. The first European travelers, who sought to reach the eastern lands through the West, believed that they met the inhabitants of India. For many years, this binary opposition of the West and the East determined not only geography, but also politics, culture, philosophy, and so on. The Greek word "оофоГ (sage) was obviously different from the word "фікооофо^1 (one who loves wisdom), precisely in order to distinguish oneself from sages, the first philosophers began to call themselves lovers of wisdom. A philosopher is one who seeks wisdom rather than possesses it. For example, Socrates emphasized his own ignorance, which was nothing more than a broader desire for knowledge. If the term "philosopher" means a person who follows the tradition of philosophical rational reflection, it is fair to call people endowed with practical wisdom - sages.

In his last major work, "The Wisdom of the West" (1970), the British philosopher Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) argues for the conditionality of the West-East dichotomy and emphasizes the existence of the Wisdom of the East (Bodnarchuk, 2015). In the presence of the "Wisdom of the East" we can assume the presence of the "Wisdom of the Far West", in other words, the wisdom of the indigenous people of America, and hence its essence and history. Methodologically, this study refers to works of similar problems, but about different cultures, taking into account common characteristics (Hnatovska, 2020), and to works about cultural pluralism in the United States of America (Ziфlkowska-Weiss, 2020).

Purpose

The purpose of the article is not to answer the question about the possibility of the existence of the philosophy of the indigenous population of North America. The existence of The American Indian Philosophy Association (AIPA), an organization that works to preserve and popularize the intellectual culture of American Indians, is proof of this phenomenon. The task is to answer the question, whether philosophical ideas are inherent in the spiritual culture and worldview of the indigenous population of North America, and if they can they be found in folklore and mythology. To achieve this goal, the concept of "philosophy" in the article is considered as the quintessence of the spiritual culture of humankind.

Statement of basic materials

In the absence of "history" in the European sense of the word, the American Indians understood historicity in their own way. Evidence of this is one of the most significant phenomena of the pre-colonial era - "Wallamolum", which can be translated roughly as "Red List" (Zasursky, Koreneva, & Stetsenko, 1997, p. 72). This is a list of events in the history of the Indians, recorded in verse and icons (about 188 examples), the content of which describes the events from the time of the creation of the world to the emergence of Europeans. The Great Spirit (conception of universal spiritual force) created the world, according to the Indians mythology; he is in dialectical unity with the Evil Spirit. This eternal enmity underlies the Universe. Note that the indigenous population of North America did not have the characteristics of a single ethnic group, nor was it a single nation. An interesting feature of the aborigines was how they called themselves - just people, or real people. Researcher Michael Yellow Bird (1999), a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes, (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara), professor of Sociology and the Director of Indigenous Tribal Studies at North Dakota State University, wrote about this in his article "What We Want to Be Called: Indigenous Peoples' Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Identity Labels".

At the beginning of the 17th century, separate tribes that united in unions and did not have a single unified culture inhabited North America. It is difficult for researchers to determine the indigenous population of North America before the advent of Europeans, there are still scientific discussions about the figures of American ethnographers Henry Farmer Dobyns, Jr. (1925-2009) and William Maxfield Denevan. However, there was catastrophic population decline, primarily due to epidemics that came to the continent with the settlers. Anthropologists call this phenomenon "Pathogenic invasion of the Old World into the New" (Denevan, 1976, p. 291). It influenced the way of life of the Indians, and at the same time the system of traditional beliefs and worldview. The cosmological systems of the Indians lost relevance, and faith in shamans and their wisdom became skeptical.

"Early forms of cosmology were based on mythology, cosmogony and eschatological ideas of sages of different times, but subsequently there was a need for a rational justification of the phenomena of nature and reality" (Rudenko, Sobolievskyi, & Tytarenko, 2018, p. 130).

However, the spiritual culture of the Indians has shown exceptional resilience and retained its authentic features. The historical destiny of the Indian tribes became a clear demonstration of the ability to adapt to nature, and later to another's social and cultural environment. Even the name "Indians" has taken root more than the tolerant treatment of "Native Americans". This phenomenon was explained by Thomas M. Norton-Smith from the Shawnee Indian people. He wrote the book "The Dance of Person and Place: An Interpretation of American Indian Philosophy" (2010), in which he noted that:

Anyway, Indians call themselves "Indians", both formally and informally, as the National Congress of American Indians and the American Indian Philosophical Association illustrate. So, rather than adopt some monstrous invention like "Amerindian", or some overbroad and imprecise labels like "indigenous" or "aboriginal people", I'll stick with "American Indians" (and sometimes "Indians" or "Natives"). This usage has the additional virtue that folks who are Indian will know that I'm talking about them.

I offer yet a second clarification before my investigation begins. Just as in the case of Western philosophy, there is no monolithic set of beliefs that constitute the American Indian philosophy. At the time of first contact with Europeans, there were hundreds of Native tribes and nations, each with its own culture, language, history, origin story, and ceremonial cycle... (Norton-Smith, 2010, p. 3)

According to the author, the Indians keep this name to remember the interference of Europeans in their culture. Researcher Thomas M. Norton-Smith uses the work of ethnographers and cultural anthropologists to analyze early Native American narratives, he proposes a rational reconstruction of Native American philosophy, which is "a metaphorical dance of man and place". Exploring this "dance", he analyzes the myths and legends of the Indians, finds, despite the characteristic similar plots, a great variety of components. This allows us to talk about the common features of Indian spiritual culture, which is conventionally divided into "before Columbus" and "after...". This dichotomy emphasizes the peculiarity of the changing conditions and forms of preservation of the spiritual and intellectual heritage of the Indians, which the researcher J. Baird Cal- licott called the "documentary horizon". Professor of Philosophy and Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, J. Baird Callicott described this phenomenon in his works: "Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy" (1989), "Clothed-in-Fur and Other Tales: An Introduction to an Ojibwa World View" (1982), "Companion to a Sand County Almanac: Interpretive and Critical Essays" (1987). Together with the source of inspiration, Aldo Leopold's book (1887-1948) "A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There" (1949), they follow the spirit and even "compete with Thoreau's Walden".

With the advent of European writing and science, American Indians gained additional opportunities to preserve cultural heritage, so archaeologists, anthropologists, philologists, and other researchers gained new scope of work. Modern Indianism tries to answer the question of the possibility of the existence of philosophical views in the mythological, poetic and oratorical heritage of the indigenous people of North America. In 2011, American philosophers Dennis H. McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb published a work "Indian from the inside. Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal" (2011). In this book, which they have been working on for almost thirty years, researchers have tried to rethink the spiritual heritage of Native Americans and answer the question of whether Indian philosophy is philosophy and whether Indians know who they really are. Note that Dennis H. McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb use the term "philosophy" in its broadest sense and agree that:

The first point which we wish to establish in this work is, then, that the discipline of philosophy can help the aboriginal people of the Americas to understand themselves. A second and we believe more important point for which we shall argue is that aboriginal people have something to contribute to the discipline of philosophy. These two points are obviously so closely interrelated that establishing the one will inevitably provide evidence for the truth of the other as well. We shall argue that the aboriginal people of the Americas can fully understand themselves only in the context of a Native American philosophy, in the context of their own values and worldview. (McPherson & Rabb, 2011, p. 11)

Originality

It is possible to assert certain groups of myths in Indian mythology. They have similar plot features. As in Greek, Scandinavian, or other mythologies, in Indian mythology an important place is occupied by myths about Creation. In these myths, the Supreme Being or the Great Spirit creates this world. Another type of myth dedicated to supernatural beings - Twins, or brothers, who embody diametrically opposed principles (good and evil). Together, these Twins organize and rule this world. In addition to these two species, there are many other myths; however, this study proposes to consider two myths: the myth of Creation (which includes the myth of Twins) and the myth of Tricksters - they contain, in our opinion, relevant material for historical and philosophical research. The article uses descriptions of the mythology of the American Indians, made by Yasen Zasursky, Maya Koreneva, Ekaterina Stetsenko in the first volume of the "History of US Literature" (1997).

The first chosen myth belongs to the culture of the eastern tribes, this is important because they met the first European. The myth describes the creation of the world by supernatural force. As we know, the Indians believed that another world preceded this world, in which there were prototypes of things and beings. In that world of prototypes ruled the Heavenly Leader, whose presence testifies to the idea of the hierarchy of being. At one point, the Heavenly Leader's wife disobeyed her husband. In anger, he uprooted the Tree of Life, the mythical image of which testifies to the ideas of the system of existence. This image is typical of many cultures in the world, but the destruction of the Tree of Life is the beginning of the creation of the world in this myth. The Heavenly Leader dumps the great-grandmother of the people Atahensic. During the fall, the birds carefully pick her up; lower the great-grandmother to the surface of the ocean. This image symbolizes the transition from the higher world to the earthly world. In this myth, the element of water existed long before the earth, and this is reflected in the plot. At the cost of their own lives, the animals dived to the bottom of the ocean to get the land and fill it for their greatgrandmother. For example, a beaver lays the ground on the turtle's back, forming an island on which Atahensic escapes. For the worldview of the American Indians, the animal is not a younger brother, as is typical of Europeans, it is an older brother. It is to her that they owe the salvation of the human race. In the newly created world, a great-grandmother gives birth to a daughter who gives birth to Twins from the Wind or from a Stranger: Hahgwehdiyu (Good Mind) and Hahgwehdaetgah (Evil Mind). At birth, the second son kills his mother. One of the brothers does good and the other creates obstacles, and by this struggle of opposites the Indians explain the existence of good and evil in the world. Later, the Evil Mind builds a bridge from stone to the world of stone giant cannibals. His goal is to bring them to the world of people; however, the Good Mind learns of these bad intentions and sends a tit to destroy the dangerous bridge with his singing. As a result, the brothers fight in a deadly duel, during the battle the Evil Mind flees, and the Good Dies. From the body of the dead brother grow three divine sisters, known as corn, beans and pumpkin. The realization that cereals, the corn shared by the Indians with the European colonists, was the last gift of the deity who perished in the struggle between good and evil, allows us to look at the history of the first contacts of the two worlds from a different angle. Approximately, as the Christian God commanded bread, corn also had the status of a sacred gift for the Indians. There are many variations of this myth in different Indian tribes. The structural order of the myth and its plot allow us to trace the cosmological, religious, social and political ideas of the Indians. The idea of the Indians about the world order is special. This is not a rational natural philosophy of ancient Greece; however, there are certain elements of a rational explanation of the world. First, there is a dualism of the Upper and Lower worlds, there are also beliefs in the underworld; secondly, there is animalism and respect for animals; third, there is a special dialectic of opposite principles.

Opposites explain not only the phenomena of the world, but also the existence of good and evil in a world that has been equipped with Good and Evil minds. The Iroquois and Algonquin tribes believed that the Twins were enemies; however, there were versions of the myth of the Twins, in which the brothers were allies, similar ideas are observed in the Navajo and Pueblo tribes. One or another version of the myth also had a social function, as it proved belonging to a particular tribe, and at the same time, was the basis for the creation of political alliances.

The second myth in this article is the myth of Trickster. Tricksters are cultural heroes with a specific sense of humor, a cunning mind and a simple way of life. They are sometimes heroes of myths about Twins; sometimes they appear as independent characters. The idea of drawing parallels between Greek and Indian mythology came to European researchers immediately. It is worth mentioning Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), author of "The Song of Hiawatha" (1855), who believed that Trickster had the traits of Prometheus, who cunningly kidnapped fire at Hephaestus (Zasursky, Koreneva, & Stetsenko, 1997, p. 53). In his analytical psychology, the Swiss philosopher of culture Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) describes the Trickster archetype as a demonic-comic character of myths and legends who performs contradictory actions and influences the fate of heroes (Jung, 1996).

The Tricksters were mostly animals: Coyote, Raven, etc. The American anthropologist of Polish descent, Paul Radin (1883-1959), in his book "The Trickster" (1956), analyzes Indian mythology using cultural analysis. The researcher compares the mythological images of the Indians with the images of ancient culture and draws parallels with the psychoanalytic portrait of the my- thologist of Trickster, Carl Gustav Jung. According to Paul Radin (1956), Trickster is a regulator of social norms for the Indians: "Few other myths have persisted with their fundamental content unchanged. The Trickster myth is found in clearly recognizable form among the simplest aboriginal tribes and among the complex".

Tricksters in Indian mythology are often animals: Coyote, Crow, Rabbit, spider Iktomi, but these characters had the ability to turn into humans (Platitsyna, 2016). For the northern Indian tribes, one of the most popular Tricksters was the Crow, which flutters its wings to create a world out of darkness. In turn, the world is a dark icy ocean, on the shore of which man settled. The crow sympathizes with the first man, tries to help him by bringing water and food, sacrificing his feathers, creating a companion - a woman. Another Trickster has a completely different reputation - Coyote, whom almost no one loves because of his overconfidence. When the Great Spirit gave the animals names, Coyote was the last to come, leaving only his own name. The Great Spirit has given him the responsibility of caring for all future people

Most often, Trickster tries to get food, a woman, he performs the functions of a cultural hero - to steal fire or the sun, or change people's lives for the better. He does all this thanks to a trick for his own purpose. But sometimes trying to deceive the enemy, sometimes he is deceived, especially Coyote and Iktomi, who more often than the Crow and Rabbit demonstrate their own ignorance. (Platitsyna, 2016)

Anthropologists and culturologists have been of interest to the social and philosophical content of the Trickster phenomenon in Indian mythology for many years. In one popular myth about Manabozo (or the Great Rabbit), he is a messenger of the Great Spirit (Kiche Manitou). Manabozo lives with the grandmother of all people Nokomis and is friends with Chibiabos (Music or Wolf, in different traditions). Evil water spirits led by the serpent king Mishipeshu decided to end their friendship, for which they lured Chibiyabos to thin ice and drowned him. Because of this, only music without its Musician remains in the World. Echoes of this music can be traced in nature, this music, according to Indian beliefs, can be heard if listened to correctly. Natural music testifies to the presence of harmony in nature, to the orderliness of all its elements. In response, Manabozo kills the serpent king, but evil spirits avenge the catastrophic flood. To restore the land in the middle of the ocean, animals dive for rocks to the bottom. They raise it to the surface (a motif characteristic of various myths). When Manabozo calmed down, he pardoned his enemies; however, he received a selection of secret knowledge that will be the basis of the phenomenon of witchcraft (Zasursky, Koreneva, & Stetsenko, 1997, р. 53). First, we can conclude that Tricksters have two types: anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. Secondly, such mythological characters served as answers to ontological questions, they explained the incomprehensible phenomena of nature, the universe, existence.

In "Everyday Life of the North American Indians" (1979), Jon Ewbank Manchip White (1924-2013), a researcher of Native American culture, describes the life and culture of the indigenous people of North America. He carefully analyzes the culture of the Indians: beliefs, hunting, rituals, agriculture, etc. (White, 1979). According to him, religious beliefs played an important role in the spiritual life of American Indians. Some tribes believed in divine essences, others did not believe, despite the fact that the Indians did not have a developed system of religious beliefs; all had a mythological picture of the world. For Indians, religious beliefs are both individual and collective, meaning that an Indian could personally worship a deity, or entire clans had their own deity. From time to time, the Indians visited special places where spirits lived, where they prayed to them, sang songs, danced, and so on. According to Jon Ewbank Manchip White, for the indigenous people of North America, dreams and their interpretation were very important. The researcher claims that in Western civilization dreams became the subject of professional philosophical analysis only in the early 20th century, due to the work of the famous psychoanalyst and philosopher Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Another important feature is the lack of skepticism characteristic of Western man about the content and meaning of dreams. The authors of Dreams: "Visions of the Night" (1976), David Coxhead and Susan Hiller, argue that for most Indian tribes, dreams had a special meaning:

All their wisdom and knowledge came to them in dreams. They tested their dreams and in that way learned their own strength. Wisdom and knowledge - the ability to heal, courage, creativity, and all other attributes considered valuable in human nature - were received as a form of grace in dreams or vision. Children were encouraged from early childhood to try to dream and remember their dreams. (Coxhead & Hiller, 1976, p. 84)

Together, this indicates the important role of dreams in the spiritual culture of the aborigines. Similarly, song poetry served the process of harmonizing existence. It had to treat, educate, and provide for socialization, and so on. For example, when the Indian shaman Orpingalik spoke with the Danish anthropologist Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (1879-1933) during his expedition (1921-1924), he told the traveler about the nature of singing:

Songs are thoughts, sung out with the breath when people are moved by great forces and ordinary speech no longer suffices. Man is moved just like the ice floe sailing here and there out in the current. His thoughts are driven by a flowing force when he feels joy, when he feels fear, when he feels sorrow. Thoughts can wash over him like a flood, making his breath come in gasps and his heart throb. Something, like an abatement in the weather, will keep him thawed up. And then it will happen that we, who always think we are small, will feel still smaller. And we will fear to use words. But it will happen that the words we need will come of themselves. When the words we want to use shoot up of themselves - we get a new song. (Rasmussen, 1931, p. 321)

The shaman compares the flow of thoughts with the flow of the river on which the ice floats. Thoughts are blocks of ice, and the mind is a stream. They appear and disappear for an unknown reason, just as words appear for songs, intuitively born in singing. For the Indian worldview, song is not just vocals or words, but an important action. There were no roads in the Indian world, paths measured their space, and rivers usually symbolized paths. For the Indians, the song was also a way, as, for example, in the famous song about the path of beauty: "In beauty I walk / With beauty before me I walk / With beauty behind me / I walk / With beauty above me I walk / With beauty around me I walk / It has become beauty again" (Cronyn, 2012, p. 77).

In this song, beauty appears as a comprehensive principle of harmonization of nature, and the search for harmony with the world somehow penetrated the culture of the settlers. In modern times, this influence has manifested itself in the nonconformist phenomenon of the "hippie" counterculture, which gave rise to the subculture of "children of flowers". In the Indian tribes were people who memorized speeches, songs, inherited the spiritual culture of the tribe, and these people gave birth to the phenomenon of oratorical prose. The flame of the hearth symbolized a kind of social institution around which people gathered, they decided social, political, ritual issues, and so on. Rhetoric can be ritual (related to the afterlife) and secular (not related to the afterlife). At the hearth, Native Americans discussed and described the events that most defined the year. This is how the already mentioned "Vallamolum" appeared, which describes the events of the creation of the World, contains stories about the flood, the beginning of the journey of ancestors from the mythological homeland. Native Americans do not consider themselves masters of nature. Of course, they fought for territories that belonged to their tribes, but we can say that there is not anthropocentrism in their views, but ethnocentrism. The Indians did not have the characteristic feature of Western civilization - the transformation of nature from God's creation into a workshop. The natural philosophy of the Indians recognized nature as synonymous with beauty, recognized poetry in it, animals where not younger brothers, but older ones. From the misunderstanding of the two civilizations about values, an undisguised interest was born, which turned into a respectful attitude. The influence of the spiritual culture of the Native Americans on the worldview of the first settlers was ambiguous. Along with the apparent hostility between the settlers and the natives, there were cases of respect for the traditions of the American Indians.

It is worth mentioning the founder of the colony of Rhode Island (Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) Roger Williams (1603-1683). He respected the indigenous people and sought mutual understanding. His first book was published in England, entitled "A Key Into the Language of America, or an Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America, Called New-England" (1643). In the formation of worldviews of the first colonists, the presence of indigenous people played a major role, because, acting as the "Other", the Indians played the role of antipode to the Western system of human society. They became a clear example of a pagan tribe that, according to the Puritans, needed immediate Christianization. The closeness of the other people only strengthened the providential views of the colonists, fostering their faith in their uniqueness and the true biblical nature of their journey. In his work, Roger Williams tried to create an Anglo-American dictionary and explore the worldviews of indigenous peoples. The book demonstrated its historical importance; it was one of the first studies of the language and culture of the American Indians. The researcher analyzed a wide range of issues from the usual greeting to the philosophical awareness of life and death; he tried to correct the attitude of settlers to the indigenous population, to change the idea of superiority over them. Thanks in large part to the first missionaries and their work, the modern map of the United States has preserved authentic Native American names, such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, and more.

The American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) once aptly demonstrated the dialogue of the two worlds with an original quote from an Indian leader: "It is a noble, generous liquor and we should be humbly thankful for it, but, as I remember, water was made before it" (Emerson, 1883, p. 240).

In the words of the leader there is a metaphor that wine as a symbol of Christianity (the religion of the white man), artificially created, while water - a symbol of simplicity, a natural substance that symbolizes the American Indians was primordial. The conflict with the settlers deprived the indigenous population of their lands, traditions, and way of life. American political scientist Samuel Phillips Huntington (1927-2008) described the invading feature of the Western worldview. In his "Clash of Civilizations" (1996), he noted that the most dramatic and significant contacts between civilizations were when people from one civilization conquered, destroyed or enslaved the peoples of another. As a rule, these contacts were bloody, but short and had an episodic character (Huntington, 1997, p. 50). With the discovery of America, Western people discovered a different culture, and decided to change it for themselves. The world, which was radically different from the usual, interested, fascinated, intrigued, but most importantly - scared. To the pious Puritan, the Indian was not a man, but a savage, a beast that must be tamed. The appeal to the spiritual life of the first colonists of the New World, as well as the worldview of the aborigines and other peoples, in the period of American history of the 17th and 18th centuries gives an insight into the origins of American culture and philosophy. European colonies had different religious beliefs, different languages, different political interests and interpenetration of cultures took place everywhere. During the colonial period, the influence of Native American culture on the culture of pilgrims was perhaps greatest. The presence of Indians directly or indirectly influenced the social, domestic, political, economic, religious aspects of colonial life. To the Indians, all Europeans looked like tribes similar to themselves, which had a similarly understandable way of life, but expansionist ideas. The Pequot War between the Pecots and the British colonists of 1636-1638 and the King Philip's War of 1675-1676 are examples of military conflicts between cultures (Bourne, 1991). Attempts to understand the "return of the white brothers" who came from the "big water" were initially peaceful, and the settlers were interested in the unknown culture. The missionaries baptized the Indians in the new faith, gave them new names, and settled among the Puritans. The settlers concluded land treaties with the Indians, using the enmity between the tribes to their advantage. In order to conclude successful agreements, European settlers began to teach tribal rituals, rites, etiquette, language, they held meetings with representatives of local tribes, demonstrating their respectful attitude. Negotiations were held according to the rules of the Indians; it allowed to be acquainted with their traditions. The American thinker William Penn (1644-1718) took part in similar negotiations, and another American politician, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), published a collection of texts describing similar agreements with the Indians. The texts contained information on the rhetoric of the aborigines, their creativity and exotic aesthetics. Numerous texts that contain speeches of the Indians have survived to our time, and they form the basis for philological and historical-philosophical analysis. The mutual influence of cultures resulted in certain metaphors, settlers borrowed them, and later they migrated to other languages. The American anthropologist Lewis Henri Morgan (18181881) studied the life, beliefs, and spiritual culture of the Indians for many years. He notes that the phrase "To bury the tomahawk" literally meant the cessation of hostilities, and this metaphor, and others, exist in many languages of the world (Morgan, 1904, p. 16). Another example is the metaphorical "peace pipes", which, according to the ritual, must be smoked with the enemy for reconciliation.

Prominent American politicians Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Benjamin Franklin, and others admired the metaphorical nature of some of the speeches of Indian leaders. The languages of the settlers were supplemented by words from Indian languages, such as "tomahawk", "wigwam", "Manitou" and others. In the Enlightenment, European naturalists argued that plants and animals, and even Native Americans, were worse because of their climate and geography. In turn, Thomas Jefferson refuted these views in his book Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), where he defended American Indian culture. He praised the speech of Chief Logan, who mourned the loss of his family because of the settlers. Thomas Jefferson saw this speech as an example of the great and powerful oratory of the Indians, equal to European philosophy. He wrote to the Marquis de Chastellux (Franзois Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux) (17341788): "I believe the Indian, then, to be, in body and mind, equal to the white man... " (Jefferson, 1953).

Such an idea of equality, of "pulling up" the less developed brethren to its level, does not indicate contempt. Thomas Jefferson had sought peace and equality, but equality itself was understood differently in the American Enlightenment. Therefore, among the supporters of a tolerant attitude to the culture and traditions of the American Indians were ideas to make them more civilized, which is paradoxical. On the one hand, respect for the culture of the aborigines, on the other - a genuine desire to make them look like themselves.

At the end of the colonial period, the process of acculturation gained momentum, the number of settlers increased, and their financial situation improved. Eurocentric culture Christianizes the Indians. Texts written by Indian authors are beginning to appear. One such author was Samson Occom (1723-1792), a Mohegan who became a Presbyterian cleric. He was the first Indian to publish his works in English. Even in his youth, Samson Occam was impressed by Christian sermons, and this led him to study theology and scrupulous reading of the Bible (Szasz, 1994). He is the author of "A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, An Indian Who Was Executed at New Haven on the 2nd of September 1772 for the Murder of Mr. Moses Cook, late of Waterbury, on the 7th of December 1771" (1772). This is an appeal to the thoughts of the prisoner to save the soul from execution. He also wrote "A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs" (1774), a classic example of religious poetry about God, faith, sinfulness, the soul, and so on. Here is an example of one of the philosophical hymns called "The Sinner's SelfReflection":

AH Lord! ah Lord! what have I done? / What will become of me? / What shall I say, what shall I do? / Or whither shall I flee? / By wand'ring I have lost my self, / And here I make my moan: / O whither, whither have I stray'd! / Ah, Lord! what have I done? / Thy Candle searches all my Rooms, / And now I plainly see, / The num'rous Sins of Earth and Hell / Are summed up in me. / The Seeds of all the Ills that grow, / Are in my Garden sown, / And Multitudes of them are sprung; / Ah, Lord! what have I done! / I have been Satan's willing Slave, / And his most easy prey: / He was not readier to command / Than I was to obey: / Or, if at Times he left my Soul, / Yet still his Work went on: / I was a Tempter to my self; / Ah, Lord! what have I done! / I puft at all the Threats of Heaven, / And slighted all its Charms: / Nor Satan's Fetters would I leave / For Christ's inviting Arms. / I had a Soul, but priz'd it not; / And now my Soul is gone. / My forced Cries do pierce the Skies; / Ah, Lord! what have I done! (Occom, 1774, p. 7)

Hendrick Aupaumut (1757-1830) of the Mohicans described the history of his people "A History of the Mah-hic-con-nuk Indians", and created the first Indian autobiography "Short Narration of My Last Journey to the Western Country" (1794) (Aupaumut, 1827).

Conclusions

The influence of Native American wisdom on the history of American philosophy is clearly not as significant as it could be. Although even today, we find evidence of the intersection and interaction of different cultures, such as Thanksgiving Day, which is a synthesis of the Puritan theocentric worldview and rituals of the Indians, who similarly thanked the Great Spirit. Since their first contact with Westerners, Native Americans have faced open racism, indifference on the one hand, and compassion, respect, and even admiration on the other. The spiritual culture of the indigenous people of North America did not give the geniuses speculative thoughts, but the wisdom of the American Indians is in many ways similar to European philosophy. The existence of unions for the preservation of national culture and their own identity testifies to the indisputable interest of the indigenous population in their own culture. Indigenous wisdom is an important part of the history of early American philosophy.

References

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List of reference links

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3. Боднарчук Л. С. Історія східної філософії у дослідженнях Б. Рассела : дис. ... канд. філос. наук. Київ. нац. ун-т ім. Тараса Шевченка. Київ, 2015. 172 с.

4. Bourne R. The Red King's Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England, 1675-1678. New York : Oxford University Press, 1991. 273 p.

5. Coxhead D., Hiller S. Dreams: Visions of the Night. London : Thames and Hudson, 1976. 95 p.

6. Cronyn G. W. Native American Poetry. North Chelmsford : Courier Corporation, 2012. 304 p.

7. Denevan W. N. The Native Population of the Americas in 1492. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1976. 353 p.

8. Emerson R. W. Essays : First and Second Series. Boston : Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1883. 343 p.

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10. Huntington S. P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New Delhi : Penguin Books India, 1997. 367 p.

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