Re: Culture? "Us" vs "Them"

Read, Dwight ANTHRO (Read@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU)
Sat, 5 Feb 1994 19:08:00 PST

Wilson writes (in reply to my post):

"So are you looking for a set list of traits that all cultures do have?"

There is a misunderstanding here. I was CRITICIZING this kind of attribute
definition as wholly inadequate. Without an "if and only if" type of
definition, one cannot assume the converse, leaving one only with a defintion
that says what culture is NOT, not what it IS. Further, attribute
definitions are looking at consequences, not causes and do not suggest what a
theory might use as its basis.

D. Read
READ@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU