Spring 2013 Philosophy of Culture Course Study Questions

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All exams are based on these study questions. You are strongly encouraged to keep notes on these study questions as the semester proceeds. This will make you preparation for the mid-term and final much more efficient and productive.

January 07

1st day of Class. No study questions.

January 08

1. Why does Wilson think it is useful to study human culture in relationship to ants, bees, termites, and wasps?

2. What are some advantages and disadvantages of having an exoskeleton?

3. What are some distinctive aspects of human eusociality?

4. What is ethnography, how do you do it, and is it science?

January 10

1. According to Brian Eno, what is the importance of metaphor in understanding culture?

2. Why is the fact that cultural activity is evolutionarily "expensive" a puzzle in trying to explain it?

3. What is a "preadaptation" and what are some of the major preadaptations Wilson postulates for earlier humans and pre-humans?

January 14

1. Identify both traditional views about emergence of hominids, as well as Wilson's speculations.

2. Why are nests and relatively stable campsites important to the development of hominids, according to Wilson?

3. Give an example of male bias in anthropology.

4. How is globalism altering anthropology? (Consider local examples in Italian culture.)

5. How might the HRAF be used to validate hypotheses in ethnography?

January 15

1. What is Yali's question and does Diamond think previous answers have been wrong?

2. What happened at Cajamarca on November 16, 1532? Be prepared to answer basic explanatory questions about this event.

January 17

1. How do the major "pre-adaptations" leading to homo sapiens (and culture) reduce the improbability of the emergence of human culture?

2. What is kin selection? What is group selection? How does Wilson think we determine whether to commit to group altruism or individualism in the pursuit of our survival (and thriving)?

January 21

1. How were anthropologists of the early 20th century responding to 19th century ideas and to Freudianism?

2. How did anthropologists of the early 20th century think of their discipline in relation to science?

3. Give examples of "revisionism" of the work of even famous anthropologists? How should we explain this?

4. Has Freudianism been helpful in anthropology, in your opinion?

5. What evidence do we have about the depth of tribalism in human culture?

6. Are humans (and their ancestors) violent and warlike by nature?

January 22

1. How is male and female body size related to reproductive and child rearing conditions?

2. What does relative testes size tell you about a mammal's mating practices?

3. What are the major theories about concealed ovulation and copulation?

4. Review some of the course research questions that bear on our study to date.

January 24

1. How does Durkheim think solidarity is established in society? Give some examples.

2. How does Levi-Straus use the concept of "binary opposition" and "mental construct" to explain how social meaning is created?

3. How do French anthropologists like Durkheim and Levi-Straus think about the nature of culture and the task of culture?

4. How does Wilson think our migration from Africa, the mutation rate, and genetic drift may help explain the onset of the Neolithic period in Human evolution?

5. What innovations are associated with the neolithic period?

January 28

1. How does Dennett develop the relationship between a scientific study of culture and an acknowledgement that culture is "sui generus"?

2. Why is it, according to Dennett, that cultural selection need not be conscious?

3. What are "memes" and how might meme theory account for cultural ideas?

January 29

1. According to Diamond, how do cultures make disastrous mistakes?

2. Give some examples of contemporary problems facing either European or American cultures and consider how Diamond's typology might apply.

January 31

1. What evidence from paleopathology has led us to reappraise the "blessings" of agriculture, according to Diamond?

2. How should we assess the value of agriculture in human culture today?

February 04

1. What is Freud's attitude toward religion.

2. How does Freud think about the problem of happiness and the compatibility of human happiness and nature?

February 05

1. How does Weber theorize a central role for religion in meeting cultural challenges posed by inequality?

2. Does language affect the way we think? Sapir-Whorf

3. How does Harris' anthropolgy combine the etic/emic/behavioral/&mental with Marxism?

4. What is Wilson's original "sociobiology" theory and how has it changed in his recent work?

February 07

1. How does civilization regulate and sublimate our sexual and aggressive tendencies, according to Freud?

February 11

1. How does civilization make use of the Oedipal complex and the super ego to regulate aggression and other socially required behaviors?

2. How does Freud theorize collective consciousness of guilt in a culture?

February 12

1. How does interpretive anthropology emerge from problems already existing in anthropology?

2. What is "thick description" (add to this especially after next class)

3. What is Diamond's theory about dangerous substances use? Evaluate it.

February 14

1. What is the point of the story about Cohen and the sheep in Geertz's essay, "Thick Description"?

2. What is "thick description" according to Geertz.

3. How does Geertz's idea of ethnography contrast with Durkheim, Boas, or Wilson?