Social Science's Need for a Cultural Symbols Paradigm

Abstract

The thesis of this paper is that human beings are remarkably dis­tinct from other living beings (animals, birds, insects, etc.) and Artificial Jntelligence (Al) machines (computers, robots, etc.) by what we would like to call cultural symbols. The latter refers to such cultural components as language, science, knowledge, reli­gious beliefs, thought, myths, cultural norms and values.