Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA07680 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 30 Mar 2001 13:59:32 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745D3A@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 13:55:51 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>Culture is an emergent property of social interaction-
>>so social psychology perhaps- but memetics, to my
> >> mind anyway, is about group behaviours not about individuals.
>
<Would be interested to hear how such a strong distinction between
> individual and group behaviour is justified, other than as a western
> cultural bias.>
>
I'm not sure why one would see this as Western cultural bias, since
I'm giving preference to the examination of social processes over the
individual. Surely a western bias would focus on individualism not on the
group or society?
If you mean in the sense of suggesting that there is a distinction
between the individual and society at all, well, then I mean that only in
the sense of objects of investigation, not necessarily as objects worthy of
different value-attachments. One can study individual minds, or the means
by which different individuals interact, and the consequences of that social
interaction. Of course the two aren't unrelated, I just think memetics is
more about the latter. Unlike Robin, and Joe, I believe memetics is
science- or potentially so at any rate, not merely philosophical (not that
there's anything wrong with that).
Vincent
> --
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 30 2001 - 14:02:22 BST