Reading Response: Nature Via Nurture

This article covered a topic that I am very familiar with, the idea of nature vs. nurture, but the title alone made me think of a new way of thinking: not vs. but via. Many anthropologists have toyed with the idea that perhaps our cultures are not separate from our true nature, that when we go against our culture we are actually going against our nature instead of with it. This idea appeals to me because we have too many social constructs that prevent the idea of us being bestial without cultures to shape us, as even animals have culture. The famous addage "raised by wolves" no longer means that they have no culture, simply a different one if we adopt the idea that human nature requires cultural nurture. Our moral structures and systems of belief aren't necssarily unique to humans, just different from an animal culture. Wolves, for example, have a distinct and elaborate social order where there are those who are in positions of higher command, but all among the group nare important to the pack's survival. As for their beliefs, we cannot speak to them to answer that question, so it will have to remain unanswered.

how to talk about the world

How to talk about the world

I found this article about language very interesting for many reasons. One reason is that it had never occurred to me how much of an impact your culture has on your language. For instance, the categorizing of a chair in English would be with furniture while in some African speech communities they would categorize it with a spear because they are both emblems of a rulers authority. Another interesting thing that was pointed out in the article was that there are some sentences in a language that simply can’t be translated to another depending on how that language was developed in it’s culture. Which is why becoming a translator is a form of art itself.

Corbin B.

Geertz

I agree with what it says how common sense has a relatively organized body of considered thought because common sense it something you are nurtured throughout
your life. Due the experiences in life, it should be easily understood that its "common sense." When it qoutes "coping with everyday problems in an everday way with some effectiveness"
it a powerful thing said because when we execute the issue or not, we learn to fix it the next time it comes around. I have actually never thought of how
common sense it defined. Common sense is actually really hard to define and there is so much to it like how it says it can be common sense in nature. For
example, it says that in a culture, there are things that are common sense like covering your mouth when yawning is a common sense in the American
culture. So I found this article really interesting to encounter.