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Animal society/human culture
Jesse S. Cook III (jcook@AWOD.COM)
Mon, 5 Aug 1996 15:08:14 -0400
This is a reponse to Ilay Ors and Natalie Marie Underberg. First, I agree
with Ronald Kephart. No definition of the word "culture" that I am aware of
(Clyde Kluckhohn, in a survey of the anthropological literature quite a few
years ago, counted 156, if I remember correctly) has in view any animal
except the human one.
Second, just because the authors of two books use the word with referemce to
nonhuman animals does not mean that they are correct in doing so. Nor does
it mean that either the denotation or connotations are about to change to
include nonhuman animals any time soon.
Third, any resemblence between animal social behavior and human culture is
purely coincidental (as I think I've said before). And I wouldn't even call
it "proto-culture" (as I know I've said before, on 28 July 1996, to be exact).
Jesse S. Cook III E-Mail: jcook@awod.com
Post Office Box 40984 or
Charleston, SC 29485 USA 201-9573@mcimail.com
"Our attitude toward others is not determined by who *they* are;
it is determined by who *we* are."
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