Hello,

I'm posting this for constructive comments.

ON THE MATTER OF "CULTURE"

Occasionally, I will see a rebuttal that uses the term "culture" as if it is special knowledge. Here are some observations and suggestions.

In Formal Argumentation

Incomplete Argument:

X was not part of the culture.

or

Thre is no evidence of x in the culture.
Thus, not x.


Complete argument:

Premise 1: If x, then evidence of x in the culture
Premise 2: No evidence of x in the culture
---------------------------------------
Conclusion: Thus, not x

Questions to ask:

What is known?
How is it known?
Is it relevant?
--Subject
--Period
--Place

The key question:

What is unknown?

If the evidence is incomplete, then Premise 1 may be false and must been proved.



In Definition

Incomplete Argument:

You don't understand the culture.

or

You are being ethnocentric.


Commentary:

"Culture" is a collection of the ordinary--not an esoteric specialty.

culture: the full range of human behavior resulting from socially acquire knowledge and beliefs.

Ideology: the beliefs and ideas a group uses to understand and support its way of behaving.

Ethnocentrism: to judge another culture in terms of one's own culture.

Relativism: to understood another culture in its own terms,



Some aspects of culture:

Agriculture
Commerce
Communities
Education
Fine Arts
History
Kinship
Language
Law
Medicine
Military
Religion
Science
Technology

Questions to ask:

What aspect of culture?
What knowledge?
What belief?
What behavior?
How is it different?











C. Wayne Taylor
Richmond, Virginia USA