The Culture Without Time
The Piraha people of the Amazon apparently have no concept? of numbers, no concept of colors, no concept of time beyond the present. They have no creation myths, produce no art, and don’t have any collective memory going back? more than? two generations.? They reportedly rarely sleep for more than two hours a night, and they? frequently starve themselves and their children even when food is readily available. From the Globe and Mail:
“The question is, is there any case where not having words for something doesn’t allow you to think about it?” Prof. Gordon asked about the Piraha and the Whorfian thesis. “I think this is a case for just that.”
Prof. Everett argues that what the Piraha case demonstrates is a fundamental cultural principle working itself out in language and behaviour.
The principle is that the Piraha see themselves as intrinsically different from, and better than, the people around them; everything they do is to prevent them from being like anyone else or being absorbed into the wider world. One of the ways they do this is by not abstracting anything: numbers, colours, or future events.
April 4th, 2006 at 10:56 am
So then, is different better?
April 4th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
check your link to Wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_people
April 5th, 2006 at 7:25 am
For more info:
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/228-Creation-miss.html
April 5th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
For anyone interested, there is a long, in depth article on this subject in a December issue of Science News.
April 7th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
The Science News article can be found online here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_24_168/ai_n16029317
April 8th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
The research was originally published in the August-0ctober 2005 issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CA/journal/contents/v46n4.html
April 16th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
DANIEL L. EVERETT
Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã: Another Look at the Design Features of Human Language
http://ling.man.ac.uk/info/staff/DE/culturalgrammar.pdf
December 7th, 2006 at 12:37 am
must be retarded
December 21st, 2006 at 11:55 pm
[...] This quote from Marcus Aurelius’ Mediations (Book Two, para 14) reminds me of the culture without time. [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 12:55 am
I’d make a comment, but I’m at a loss for words ….
March 12th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
these peoples lifestyle of almost no sleep might be the reason for the lack of all the other things. with no sleep you wouldnt feel like doing or coming up with anything either