Σκέψεις για τη διεπιστημονική σημασία ενός σημειωτικού ορισμού του πολιτισμού. Η περίπτωση του Clifford Geertz

Abstract

Despite the fact that the discourse on symbols is older, the connection of symbols to signs seems to have paved the way for their more systematized approach, in the context of Semiotics. Building upon this procedure, one should include the renewal of Symbolic Anthropology’s conceptual arsenal through Clifford Geertz’s famous semiotic definition of culture. Occasioned by the introduction of cultural significance, Geertz posits a number of interdisciplinary efforts, which he documents in his work. Firstly, he converses with Biological Anthropology, in an attempt to evaluate the concept of meaning in the evolutionary course of the human species, while, in following up on those thoughts, he attempts to evaluate their application to the work of Jerome Bruner and in the correlation between cultural meaning and educational action. The application of cultural significance is extended to include “structures” much more tied to Social Anthropology, such as nationalism in “new states” emerging from the “revolution” of decolonization, and finally to converse with Claude Lévy-Strauss’ mental adventure. Finally, cultural significance is applied to one of Geertz’s probably “forgotten” conceptual efforts regarding the “bazaar economy”, in which cultural meaning is utilized in the context of studying the so-called “informal” or “human economy”.

Keywords

• geertz, culture, meaning, interdisciplinarity.