[MD] Distinguishing Levels

[david buchanan]

Matt, Arlo and all:

dmb said to Arlo:
A scale ("can detect the difference between the "alpha male" and a 
"commoner"). The alpha male will be bigger. A video camera might be a good 
way to document the fact that the alpha male is getting a lot more nookie 
than the commoners. Ah, its good to be the king!

Matt replied:
Very funny, but the same thing can be said about humans.  What about humans 
could we not pick up by watching behavior?  (Please don't say anything about 
the "mind"....)

dmb says:
Well, my little joke was supposed to point to the fact that alpha-maleness 
is determined by a might-makes-right, jungle morality and the purpose of the 
position is all about reproduction. Despite the fact that actual kings tend 
to get laid a lot too, their position is confered by a totally different 
sort of law and the purpose of their kingness goes well beyond reproduction. 
It was supposed to be funny, but there's a real point too.

As to the observation of human behavior as it is opposed to the sort of 
things that can be detected by scientific instruments, I'd just gesture 
toward all the stuff in Lila about re-thinking the science of anthropology. 
I think the basic idea is that cultures can't really be properly understood 
in any objective way. Even the examinaton of the physical artifacts or 
outward behavior patterns depends on entering the culture's intersubjective 
space, like Dusenberry did with the Indians. A distinctly different kind of 
empirical data is appropriate. That's why scientific instruments won't help 
much in fields like History, Literature, and Anthropology. Cause it takes 
one to know one.

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