LEVI-STRAUSS - MIND

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>LEVI-STRAUSS</FONT><BR> THE STRUCTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Mind over Matter</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>L'ESPRIT HUMAIN</B></FONT><BR> The basic hypothesis explored by Lévi-Strauss is that cultural customs and myths emerge in different societies from a variety of fundamental and common mental structures. The differences (which traditional anthropology focused on) are less important than the similarities which illuminate basic similarities in the construction of the human <A HREF="../t03/g033.html" TARGET="_top">mind</A>. The various cultural systems represent mere sub-systems within the entire totality of human culture or "l'esprit humain".<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>MIND AND LANGUAGE</B></FONT><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>"Although they belong to another order of reality, kinship phenomena are of the same type as linguistic phenomena."<P> ("Structural Anthropology")</BLOCKQUOTE> For Lévi-Strauss, the most formative feature of human culture is language. Our mental life or mind is primarily linguistic in nature and can be analysed in a manner similar to that developed by the structural linguists for the analysis of language. Cultural phenomena such as marriage rites and kinship laws should be considered primarily as a set of coded relations of exchange which perform as a language system. Like phonemes, kinship elements are elements of meaning, and, like phonemes, they acquire meaning only if they are integrated into systems. Kinship systems are like phonemic systems are built by the mind on the level of unconscious thought.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CULTURAL ANALYSIS REVEALS THE HUMAN MIND</B></FONT><BR> Lévi-Strauss argues that kinship laws constitute one of the earliest attempts of the human mind to found a social order by distinguishing between different classes of human relations. Hence, he maintains, the elementary laws of kinship manifest universal principles of the human mind. He concludes that the elementary structures of kinship demonstrate that cultures organise themselves, not as behavioural reactions to the external environment but in accordance with the internal structures of reason. One of the most telling pieces of evidence for this is that analysis of cultural systems reveals a hidden logic of binary oppositions - surely a reflection of the way the human mind functions. The human mind organises information as sets of opposites and cultural systems come to value one way of behaviour over another. This is most especially evident in the process of mythic thought where stories are used to resolve apparent contradictions between nature and culture. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>