Abstract
A culture is a massive, distributed tradition made up of reticulated chains of influence extending back into the past. Traditions themselves are made up of entities that have evolved as they have replicated, joined together, split apart, and recombined. The processes by which this occurs are of great interest because they tell us not only how our minds work but how our culture has evolved. The particular ways that cultural entities evolve are shaped not only by their intrinsic structures and dynamics but also by the ways they interact with the wider world, both physical and social.
Wird die Erziehung unres Geschlects in zweifachem Sinn genetisch und organisch; genetisch durch die Mittheilung, organisch durch die Aufname und Anwendung des Mitgetheilten. Wollen wir diese zweite Genesis des Menschen, die sein ganzes leben durchgeht, von der Bearbeitung des Ackers Kultur, oder vom Bilde des Lichts Aufklärung nennen: so stehet uns der Name frei, die Kette der Cultur und Aufklärung reicht aber sodann bis ans Ende der Erde.
Johann Gottfried von Herder1
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Notes
Johann Gottfried von Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschlichte der Menschheit (Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1821), I: 340.
Robert C. J. Young, Colonial Desire (New York: Routledge, 1995), 41.
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© 2013 Michael D. C. Drout
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Drout, M.D.C. (2013). Conclusion. In: Tradition and Influence in Anglo-Saxon Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137324603_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137324603_8
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