ANTH 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Symmetry In Biology, Social Fact

• School: McGill University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 202
• Professor: Eduardo Kohn

Document Summary

Fa(cid:448)oritis(cid:373) for the right ha(cid:374)d o(cid:448)er the left (cid:894)(cid:862)(cid:455)ou"re right(cid:863), the rights = good(cid:895) (cid:894)the left = (cid:271)ad thi(cid:374)gs, si(cid:374)ister(cid:895). He knows that there is some anatomical basis for this even neanderthals had predominant right- ha(cid:374)ded(cid:374)ess (cid:271)iologi(cid:272)al (cid:271)ias. Although there is a (cid:271)ias to ha(cid:374)ded(cid:374)ess, it does(cid:374)"t e(cid:454)plai(cid:374) (cid:449)h(cid:455) it is i(cid:373)porta(cid:374)t. O(cid:272)iet(cid:455) stre(cid:374)gthe(cid:374)s a(cid:374)d a(cid:373)plifies this di(cid:448)isio(cid:374); it"s so(cid:272)iet(cid:455) that (cid:373)akes it a so(cid:272)ial fa(cid:272)t (cid:894)(cid:271)ut (cid:271)asi(cid:272)all(cid:455) it"s a social fact). It makes one hand legitimate and naturalizes it. The left hand has some sort of secret power: the hand of sorcery. Something inherently dual about human: the sacred and the profane. This is both created by and creates the handedness. (cid:862)it is because man is a double being homo duplex that he possesses a right and a left hand that are profoundly differentiated(cid:863) Bilateral symmetry only survived by chance extinction of radial symmetric organisms!