Re: A question and introduction

>From: Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
>
>"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > Surely you would not claim that
> > sociocultural stratification constitutes a "philosophy" in this
> > sense.
>
>Well, perhaps not in that sense of "philosophy", but I'm not sure that's
>what was necessarily meant, or if it was, I apologize for my
>misunderstanding.  The original e-mail was referring to a central idea
>that permeates the language, so in that sense, I would say that that
>kind of stratification is an example.  The central idea here being that
>humanity is naturally divided up into a fairly rigid hierarchy, and that
>relationships within this hierarchy are of great importance in
>interpersonal relationships.
I would say that in a sense it could be a form of philosophy, although it
may not be an explicit one - and only an ethical (i.e. what is the best way
to live) sense (whereas the Kantian Categorial Imperative belongs more to
the realm of epistemological philosophy).  Of course, the underlying
philosophy of a culture can be implicit and habitual ("folk philosophy") or
it can be quite well reasoned and deliberate - although the degree of this
probably depends as much on the specific situation and individual as it does
on the cultural reality at large.  Either way, however, there's a good
chance that it will influence the language - if only to a small degree.

Andy




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