vol 3: Development
9 Culture
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This site is part of the natural religion project The natural religion project A new theology A commentary on the Summa The theology company
Introduction
Culture here is assumed to be the sum of all human communication protocols. We communicate at three levels: with things less complex than ourselves, like minerals, plants and animals; with our peers, that is other people; and with more complex systems, such as our community, nation and planet.
Our communications with less complex systems include training and befriending animals, agriculture and horticulture and our interactions with the physical world in general. Our communications with our peers include things like spoken and written language, music, art, architecture, all those means by which we share information with one another. Our communications with more complex systems include our interactions with government, with and other organisations, with our global environment, and ultimately with the whole which we here call God.
We model the universe as a network of nested networks. I am a node in such a network. My existence is maintained by the nest of networks that support me. I am one of the foundations upon which more complex networks are built. built.
Heree see religion as the primary human industry that constructs and maintains our humanity. The failure of religion is manifested in the failure of humanity, leading to social breakdown, war, genocide and the other evils which beset us. The construction and maintenance of cultural links is the first practical layer of this task. If we do not communicate with one another and the world, we cannot work together on the communal task of building and operating ourselves in our world.
This part of the site is devoted to exploring the cultural codes, protocols and links by which we share our views of the human condition, plan our lives and activities and try to optimise our lot so as to enjoy peace and the grace of good living.
Further reading
Books
| Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, W W Norton and Co 1997 'Diamond's book is complex and a bit overwhelming. But the thesis he methodically puts forth--examining the "positive feedback loop" of farming, then domestication, then population density, then innovation, and on and on--makes sense. Written without favor, Guns, Germs, and Steel is good global history.' Amazon.com Amazon back |
| Fox, Russell, and Ian Mathews, Drugs Policy: Fact, Fiction and the Future, Federation Press 1992 Jacket: 'Two distinguished Australians, judge and journalist, analyse the political, economic and social imperatives behind our banning of some drugs and tolerance of others. They find our drugs laws 'futile, wrong in principle and productive ofmuch harm" and propose radical changes.' http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1862870845/tnrp">Amazon back |
| Griffin, Susan, Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature, HarperCollins 1981 Jacket: 'In this remarkable book Susan Griffin brings to the subject of pornography the insights of a poet and philosopher. She exposes the horror that pornography is, and the conditions which sustain it, and also suggests that healing can begin only when the splits in our society - between spirit and matter, black and white, male and female - can be seen to be different aspects of the same whole.' Amazon back |
| Huizinga, Johan , Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture, Beacon Press 1986 Jacket: 'A writer with a sharp and powerful intelligence, helped by a gift of expression and exposition which is very rare, Huizinga assembles and interprets one of the most fundamental elements of human culture, the instinct for play. Reading this volume, one suddenly discovers how profoundly the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play.' Roger Caillois. Amazon back |
| Kuhn, Thomas S, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, U of Chicago Press 1996 Introduction: 'a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom just an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction of prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom completed by a single man, and never overnight.' [p 7] Amazon back |
| Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China (Volume 1) Introductory Orientations, Cambridge UP 1954 Jacket: 'This is the exciting first instalment of a comprehensive work ... The author has set himself to interpret the Cinese mind in Western terms, and he is perhaps unique among living scholars in possessing the necessay combination of qualifications for this formidable undertaking. The practical importance of Dr Needham's work is as great as its intellectual interest. It is a westerm act of "recognition" on a higher plane than the diplomatic one.' Arnold Toynbee, The Observer, London. Amazon back |
| O'Sullivan, Tim, and Danny Saunders, John Fiske (eds), Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies, 1994 Jacket: '... a book to help you come to terms with the terms. It is a multi-disciplinary glossary of the concepts you are most likely to encounter throughout the study of communications and culture. ... Each entry consists of a brief introductory definition, followed by a more detailed discussion which covers origins, usage and controversies. All are cross referenced and supported by a full bibliography.' Amazon back |
| Pearsall, Ronald, The Worm in the Bud: The World of Victorian Sexuality, Penguin Books 1971 Jacket: 'In this fascinating study Ronald Pearsall exposes, with surprisingly thorough documentation, the plain facts of sex-life (approved and illicit) among the aristocracy, the middle class and the poor in the last century. His curious record of glaring conflict notably helps to explain many features of the Victorian make-up. Amazon back |
| Sacks, Oliver, Seeing Voices: A Journey into the world of the Deaf, University of California Press 1989 Jacket: '... begins with a history of deaf people in the United States, the often outrageous ways in which they have been treated in the past, and their continuing struggle for acceptance in the hearing world. And it examines the amazing and beautiful visual language of the deaf - Sign - which has only in the past decade been recognised fully as a language - linguistically complete, rich and as expressive as any spoken language. ...' Amazon back |
| Taylor, Marjorie, Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create them, Oxford University Press 1999 'Very well written, very scholarly; Dr. Taylor lovingly describes this fantastic aspect of children's lives; full of lively examples and in depth analysis; we strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in imagination.' A Reader, Amazon.com Amazon back |
Papers
| Conway, Gordon, "Feeding the world in the twenty-first century", Nature, 402 supplement, 6761, 2 December 1999, page C55-C58. 'The gains in food production provided by the Green Revolution have reached their ceiling while world population continues to rise. To ensure that the world's poorest people do not still go hungry in the twenty first century, advances in plant biotechnology must be deployed for their benefit by a strong public-sector argricultural research effort.' . back |
| Gehrels, Tom, "Brains, courage and integrity", Nature, 6776, 404, 23 March 2000, page 335. Milennium essay: 'Ghandi and Sakharov set us an inspiring example for the twenty-first century'. back |
| Goldin-Meadow, S, "Spontaneous sign systems created by deaf children in two cultures", Nature, 391, 6664, 15 January 1998, page 279. 'Deaf children whose access to usable conventional linguistic input, signed or spoken, is severely limited nevertheless use gesture to communicate. ... We ... [have observed] deaf children of hearing parents in two cultures, ... The spontaneous sign systems developed in these cultures shared a number of structural similarities: ... These striking similarities offer critical empirical input towards resolving the ongoing debate about the "innateness'"of languiage in human infants.'. back |
| James, Wendy, "Sister exchange marriage", Scientific American, 233, 6, December 1975, page 84-94. 'Among the Koman peoples of Africa, the bridgegroom promises a sister to the family of the bride for marriage. The practice is an organic part of the economic, social and moral system.'. back |
| Malville, J McKim, "Megaliths and Neolithic Astronomy in Southern Egypt", Nature, 392, 6675, 2 April 1998, page 488. 'The Sahara west of the Nile in southern Egypt was hyperarid and unoccupied during most of the late Pleistocene epoch. About 11,000 years ago the summer monsoons of central Africa moved into Egypt. ... We report the discovery of megalithic alignments and stone circles next to locations of Middle and Late Neolithic communities at Nabta, which suggest the early development of a complex society. ... The organisation of the megaliths suggests a symbolic geometry that integrated death, water and the Sun.". back |
| Rayner, Moira, "The wedge gets thicker", Eureka Street, 7, 9, November 1997, page 20-21. 'Managerial culture and political expedience are eroding hard-won democratic procedures, says MR'. back |
| Sambo, Dianne, "Dianne's story", Eureka Street, 7, 10, December 1997, page 18-20. 'Life in the far north of Australia as DS, a Walmajarri woman, has known it.'. back |
| Wendorf, Fred, "Saharan exploitation of plants 8,000 years BP", Nature, 359, 6397, 22 October 1992, page 721-724. back |
| Whiten, A, "Cultures in chimpanzees", Nature, 399, 6737, 17 June 1999, page 682. 'As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest significant cultural variation. ... We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted.' . back |
| Zifcak, Spence, "Brave new world", Eureka Street, 7, 4, May 1997, page 24-26. 'SZ counts the cost of the loss of autonomy in Australian Universities'. back |
Links
| Australian Libraries Gateway back |
| ABC Australian Broadcasting Commission Site Index back |
| Australian Legal Information Institute Australian Human Rights Information Centre back |
| Max Planck Insitute for the History of Science Galileo's manuscripts back |
| NYT New York Times back |
| RIP Royal Institute of Philosophy back |
| SMH Sydney Morning Herald newspaper back |
Click on an "Amazon" link in the booklist at the foot of the page to buy the book, see more details or search for similar items
Related sites:
Concordat Watch
Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty
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