Using the Concepts of Hermeneutical Injustice and Ideology to Explain the Stability of Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom

Abstract

This paper argues that the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom (c.2055-1650 BC) can in part be explained by referring to the phenomenon of hermeneutical injustice, i.e., the manner in which imbalances in socioeconomic power are causally correlated with imbalances in the conceptual scheme through which people attempt to interpret their social reality and assert their interests in light of their interpretations. The court literature of the Middle Kingdom is analyzed using the concepts of hermeneutical injustice and ideology. It is argued that while it is true that there was room for maneuver and for internal critique, the efficacy of internal critique was hindered by the structure of the intellectual discourse of Middle Kingdom Egypt. This intellectual discourse was suitable for the interpretation of social reality in a way that allowed the elites to assert their interests, but it was not suitable for the interpretation of social reality in a way that accorded with the interests of the exploited peasantry. 1 | INTRODUCTION One of the factors that can contribute to explaining the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom is the manner in which the conceptual tools that were available for the interpretation of social reality in ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom were structurally biased in a way that accorded with the interests of the ruling elite. While the focus of this paper is on the ideational factors which can contribute to explaining the relative stability of ancient Egyptian society during the Middle Kingdom, one should not deny that there are other factors that can be invoked to explain this relative stability. Geographical factors such as the "caging effect" that the Nile basin had on the population (Manning, 2013), and the relative security afforded by the deserts in the east and the west of the Nile basin (Hill, Jones, & Morales, 2013, p. 16

Rivers: Linking nature, life, and civilization

“…The increase in population and the development of agriculture guaranteed a large amount of tax revenue for ancient Egypt, laying the foundation for the governing and expansion of the country (W. Liu, 2000). To further organize manpower and materials to build water conservancy projects nationwide, ancient Egyptians in the early dynastic period (about 3000 bc ) regularly conducted a nationwide population census, as well as a land, livestock, and assets inventory (Xie, 2010), and on this basis established a relatively stable ruling class and huge bureaucratic system, strengthening the monarchy of Egypt (El Nabolsy, 2020). The religion of ancient Egypt was also closely related to the Nile River.…”