Symbolic Dimensions in Cultural Anthropology [and Comments and Reply

Abstract

Using the hermeneutical theory of Paul Ricoeur, it is possible to discern symbolic dimensions in cultural anthropology. Symbols, here, are dominant images in anthropologists' texts, creatively posited by inquirers, that, most importantly, possess a surplus of meaning. A symbol's fullest surplus of meaning is a prereflexive and comprehensive "understanding" (Verstehen) that may encompass a scholar's attempts at "explanation" (Erklaren). Examples of this symbolic dimension are the "understandings" that lie implicit in two elaborate anthropological systems: Levi-Strauss's structuralism and Harris's cultural materialism. Amid their commitments to anthropological "science" and "explanation," the works of each disclose a distinctive Verstehen. For Levi-Strauss, this "understanding" is nurtured by his image "world of reciprocity." For Harris, it is carried by the image "nature." This "understanding" has two major functions. On the level of the intellectual coherence of their texts, it gives unity to their intercultural interpretations of other societies and to their intracultural interpretations of their own traditions. On a moral level, it includes modes of being-in-the-world that Levi-Strauss and Harris prefer and ocasionally press upon their readers. Discernment of symbolic dimensions of "understanding" in anthropologists' texts may be an initial step toward reflection on the matrices out of which diverse explanations are presented in anthropological literature.