How to Study a Culture?

Taken from http://philosophy.about.com/od/Philosophical-Theories-Ideas/a/Philosophy-Of-Culture.htm


One of the most intriguing philosophical aspects of culture is the methodology by means of which its specimens have been and are studied. It seems, in fact, that in order to study a culture one has to remove herself from it, which in some sense it means that the only way to study a culture is by not sharing it.

The study of culture poses thus one of the hardest questions with respect to human nature: to what extent can you really understand yourself? To what extent can a society assess its own practices? If the capacity of self-analysis of an individual or a group is limited, who is entitled to a better analysis and why? Is there a point of view, which is best suited for the study of an individual or a society?

It is no accident, one could argue, that cultural anthropology developed at a similar time at which psychology and sociology also flourished. All three disciplines, however, seem to potentially suffer of a similar defect: a weak theoretical foundation concerning their respective relationship with the object of study. If in psychology it seems always legitimate to ask on which grounds a professional has a better insight into a patient’s life than the patient herself, in cultural anthropology one could ask on what grounds the anthropologists can better understand the dynamics of a society than the members of the society themselves.

How to study a culture? This is still an open question. To date, there certainly are several instances of research that try and address the questions raised above by means of sophisticated methodologies. And yet the foundation seems to be still in need of being addressed, or re-addressed, from a philosophical point of view.


This may be interesting as well: http://www.philosophyofculture.org/

Delikanlı

erkek dediğin ağlamaz, ve delikanlı olur!
mesela bu halk türkümüz öyle diyor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdoCHWH1EwQ

Some research ideas & My hunger for doing psychology outside the lab!

how certain types of conversations (related to sexuality, or talking about people's incomes, or people's health issues) may provoke feelings of shame when people from different cultures communicate. ---> has any research been done on this?

Comparing the attitudes of people about "friends with benefits" and "no-strings-attached type of relationships" on honour and non-honour cultures (similarties and differences), and the differential role of religiosity and conservativism (controlling for SES). --> honour and shame cultures especially interesting as for women, sexuality is not to be openly expressed or shared with men who do not guarantee a protection of their financial or spiritual well-being.

Also, remember: Examining cultural artifacts to study culture outside the head could be one way for me to not regret choosing an academic path!!!

Why a new blog now???

Finally, a place where I can blubber whatever the hell I want! My ideas can remain vague, and I don't need to put a period after lines of text, because I don't need complete sentences. 

If artists can sketch to improve their drawings, so can scientists to improve their thoughts.  Therefore, I'll start with sketching some psychology here.