ANTH 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Clyde Kluckhohn, Clark Wissler, Franz Boas
9 May 2016
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Boas made the notion very clear that cultures do not go from savage to barbarian to civilized. Great chain of being (theological idea from medieval/renaissance theology) Boas refuted the time of modernization chart: every culture must be understood on its own terms, all cultures are equal. Teleology- things happen in a certain way for a certain purpose. Speak in metaphors when talking about culture: relate to embodied experiences. Critical review of concepts and definitions; took 156 definitions of culture and divided them into categories: Ruth benedict (student of boas): complex whole which includes all the habits acquired by man as a member of society. Descriptive definitions give us a sense of the breadth and complexity of culture and what it includes. It is so long/big a list of things that it tends to become meaningless in its encompassment and get out of hand. Different from franz boas idea of historical particularism (every culture has its own unique history)
