Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, 101 Sanders-Brown Building, 40536-0230, Lexington, KY.
Hum Nat. 1991 Jun;2(2):83-116. doi: 10.1007/BF02692183.
American anthropology is distinguished by a four-fields approach in which biological, cultural, archaeological, and linguistic dimensions of behavior are examined in evolutionary and cross-cultural perspective. Nevertheless, assumptions of mind-body dualism pervade scholarly thinking in anthropology and have prevented the development of a truly integrated science of human experience. This dualism is most exemplified by the lack of consideration of the role of the brain in both "physical" and "mental" processes, including phenomena labeled as cultural. In this paper, I review neural mechanisms of learning, communication, and emotion, and discuss the implications of these findings for culture theory.
美国人类学的特点是采用四大学科方法,从进化和跨文化角度研究行为的生物、文化、考古和语言维度。然而,身心二元论的假设贯穿于人类学的学术思维之中,阻碍了人类经验真正综合科学的发展。这种二元论最明显的例子是,在“物理”和“心理”过程中,包括被标记为文化的现象,都没有考虑大脑的作用。在本文中,我回顾了学习、交流和情感的神经机制,并讨论了这些发现对文化理论的意义。