virus: Culture....

Wade T. Smith (morbius@user1.channel1.com)
Sun, 22 Dec 96 14:38:28 -0500


No need for uppityness here-

I refer to a simple definition of culture, like this found in a
dictionary-

cul-ture - n.
1.a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts,
beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a
particular period, class, community, or population. c. These patterns,
traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category,
such as a field, subject, or mode of expression.
2. Intellectual and artistic activity, and the works produced by it.

I am not trying to get into a jargon-based definition from any field of
science or even pop culture. ;-).

But what you imagine a certain species of chimps or dolphins to have is
not culture, and that is all I am saying.

There have been hopelessly roundabout arguements due to jargon-based
definitions, and we should do our utmost to avoid them.

Anthropology deals with human cultures, and does not have a definition
for a non-human based culture, nor could it. There are none.

There are behavioral sciences which comment upon primate and other social
behaviors, and loosely encapsulate such behaviors under the rubric
'culture', but it does not translate to anthropology.

On the other hand, I am more than willing to apply the definition 'human'
to any species capable of reaching the definition 1a above.

I am saying that I agree with the dictionary definition, and would not
apply the word culture to any set of behaviors which lacked artifacts.

So yes, I am limiting the definition of the word, to something usable and
servicable, IMHO.

*********************************************************
Wade T. Smith |'There ain't nothin' you
morbius@us1.channel1.com | shouldn't do to a dog.'
wade_smith@harvard.edu |'Theism is mental inbreeding.'
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