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What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Culture? There is a Missing Link Between the Natural and the Social Sciences

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Abstract

The article by Wells is a chance to ponder on the different conceptions of culture endorsed by the natural sciences and by the social sciences. The standard definition of culture among biologists/natural scientists usually focuses on transmission of behaviors (e.g. “tradition of socially learned behaviors”), while on the other hand anthropologists and social scientists focus more on the symbolic aspect of culture (e.g.“webs of significance”). This differential emphasis likely reflects a difference in ontology (what culture is) and in its epistemology (how it can be studied). Natural scientists typically prefer to focus on how cultural traits change quantitatively, while social scientists are much more focused with the process of symbolic interpretation, which typically involves the ability to account for meaning and sense-making (thus, it is more qualitative-grounded). These two conceptions of culture are both valid but incomplete, if they do not take into account the counterpart. The scientific conundrum that has to be solved is how these two different onto-epistemologies can be successfully linked together. A speculative hypothesis is put forward.

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Notes

  1. There are some notable exceptions. Some scholars have fully acknowledged “the meaning problem” (e.g. Durham, 1991; Weingart et al., 1997a).

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy

    Andrea Zagaria

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  1. Andrea Zagaria
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Correspondence to Andrea Zagaria.

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Zagaria, A. What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Culture? There is a Missing Link Between the Natural and the Social Sciences. Integr. psych. behav. 55, 850–857 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-021-09644-6

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