mike,
I agree with you about White's dual character but he is much more remembered
for the Marvin Harris "cultural materialism" lineage that he partially
spawned than for the insistence on symbol mediation as the essence of
culture. I think that he himself saw the latter as a fruit of the former:
production of calories got to such a level, etc. this is debatable. I
don't think he ever saw that the mediation of tool use in early hominids
with its associated construction of mediated problem solving led to a
transformation of utterance through the mediation of symbols.
Does this mean that White, the evolutionist, must be separated from White,
the champion of the role of symbols in culture? Again, I think he
considered the evolutionist contribution more significant, at least when I
knew him.
Paul H. dillon
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Cole <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2000 10:26 AM
Subject: leslie white
> Paul-
>
> There were two leslie white's, paul, living in the same body; two
> logics in dialogue with each other. I like the alter to the energy
> flow reduction myself. The discussion Sahlin's book, *Culture
> and Practical Reason"influenced me a lot, as citations of the other
> white in Cultural Psychology make clear.
> mike
> PS- I hope!
>
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