Upon separation, these two groups evolved in reverse directions. The Maori adopted more complex technology and political organization than the Moriori. The Moriori went back to being hunter – gatherers while the Maori adopted more intensive farming. Moriori’s reversion to hunting and gathering was based on the fact that Chatham’s cold climate was unfavorable to their tropical crops. Their inferior technology was precipitated by the fact that their prey was easily catchable by hand or with clubs.
Additionally, they occupied a small and remote area restricting their ability to colonize other islands. In order to survive on such small area, the Moriori renounced war and castrated some male infants to reduce the population. Consequently, the Moriori became a small unwarlike tribe with plain technology and weapons and without strong leadership. Conversely, the Maori occupied a big area which supported farming.
This precipitated population increase which in turn led to occasionally ferocious wars. In order to support their farming and ability to fight, they developed varied tools. They also built elaborate buildings and a number of forts. These tribes, though from a common ancestor, developed along different lines. When they came into contact again, a meager 900 Maori were able to vanquish the entire Moriori tribe. Diamond notes that the outcome demonstrates how environments can affect economy, political organization, technology and combat skills within a diminutive time (Diamond, 1999).
Though Heidegger’s primary focus is the being, he too acknowledges that an understanding of the ‘world’ which may in this context mean the environment is crucial. Though the two philosophers focused on different subject’s they all agreed that the environment was crucial in understanding the subject’s life. On such basis, it is safe to conclude that the environment shaped the moral values and ethical paradigms of the Polynesian tribes.
Work cited
Buchanan, B. Onto-Ethologies: The Animal Environments of Uexkull, Heidegger, Merleau-
Ponty, and Deleuze. New York, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2008.
Diamond, J. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Group (USA) 2011
Diamond, J. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York, W.W. Norton &
Company, 1999.
