From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Fri 01 Nov 2002 - 11:34:22 GMT
On Friday, November 1, 2002, at 06:31 , Van oost Kenneth wrote:
> This is becoming a question of ideology IMO !
> Wade is in a sense emphazin' individuality and Joe lingers onto a more
> collective state of things.
> In Wade's proposal a Bildung- ideal is set/ implied, Joe uses the gene-
> ralisation to drive cultural transmission.
> Wade's proposal is something that implies humanism/ romantism, Joe's
> claim is dependent of something higher, more divine, collectiviness is
> seen here as a ' natural autority ' !
I don't honestly think you have Joe's position perspectived quite
correctly- I'm willing to argue with him precisely because I think his
position is very well based in selfness, or individuality, if you will,
but, I'm very happy to see you say the bemetic model is one housed in
humanism, because, I think it is, too. But I'm sure he will chime in.
Joe's 'meme-ory' is practically the self, for all referential purposes
that I can see.
My own take on culture is that it is only a part of human society, and
that the self as realized in homo sapiens is a prerequisite. I
personally have not accepted any of the arguments claiming that cultures
are part of non homo-sapien species, although, as a skeptic and a
scientific rationalist, I listen and listen well.
The strong arguments presented by sociobiologists is very, very,
tempting, and I'm willing to listen to them with no provocation.
The arguments of religionists, with their claims of specialness, or
divinity, of some human spirit or soul, are extremely unappetizing, and
I am unwilling to listen to them without considerable provocation. I
can't see that they are looking at the same world we are actually in,
and so, like I said, I think they are off under a streetlight looking
for the object they dropped in the dark.
It is better to light a candle.
- Wade
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