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Maiming Memes (ctnd.)
I have been asked to be a little more explicit on the following point:
>Undoubtedly cultural memory can be manipulated, reconditioned and
>altered to a considerable degree. But, I submit, we lose a
>considerable amount of insight if we hasten to take biology as our
>paradigm case.
Imagine a sientific enterprise such as economics. Scholars
want to know how money is distributed within a nation. Now, someone comes
up with an idea like this: let us look at biology. Take blood circulation
or DNA-transfer (or whatever) and apply its functions and its lawlike
behaviour to the monetary domain.
I doubt whether economists would be very happy with this. There is, of
course, a chance that we are dealing with an analogy that actually turns out
to be helpful. In this case we are in for an interesting
inter-disciplinary process of mutual learning. But a case has to be made
for this. It is not simply a bright idea _in_itself_ to mix biology and
economics.
Exactly the same holds for biology and historical anthropology. An
alliteration is not sufficient evidence of any testable or even arguable
connection here.
And don't forget: extending biology into anthropology has a pretty bad
record as far as this century is concerned.
h.h.
_______________________________________________
Herbert.Hrachovec@univie.ac.at
Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria
****
But whereas power is power because it transforms categories,
analysis is analysis because it keeps them apart.
Gunnar Olsson
