Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id CAA08026 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 11 Feb 2002 02:45:01 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: noogenetics vs. memetics II (Huxley on artifacts, socifacts and mentifacts) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 21:39:24 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F173ccawFKi37y8IXBb0001af3e@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 Feb 2002 02:39:24.0557 (UTC) FILETIME=[513FD3D0:01C1B2A5] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In trying to pin down the comparison and contrast of Huxley's pursuit called
noogenetics and Dawkins's pursuit called memetics I have found in Huxley's
essay "Evolution, Cultural and Biological" his discussion of three terms,
which he attributes to someone named Bidney in a work called _Theoretical
Anthropology_. These terms are artifacts, socifacts, and mentifacts. There
is a book I have found named _Theoretical Anthropology_ by someone named
David Bidney. More on this later...
In the meantime, referring to the above
terms in more detail Huxley says the following:
(bq) "A culture consists of the self-reproducing or reproducible products of
the mental activities of a group of human individuals living in a society.
These can be broadly divided into artifacts- material objects created for
carrying out material functions; socifacts- institutions and organizations
for providing the framework of a social or political unit and for
maintaining social relations between its members; and mentifacts- mental
constructions which provide the psychological framework of a culture and
carry out intellectual, aesthetic, spiritual, ethical or other psychological
functions." (eq)
Am I to take it, based on the above, that "mentifacts" are
"self-reproducing"?
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