Nature-symbolic thought-culture

Abstract

An Outlook on Lévi-Strauss structuralism from the point of the notions of “naturę” and “culture”, which the French ethnologist employs in his work, is suggested in this paper. It is the author’s thesis that the opposition nature-culture can be conceived as the main linę of the interpretation concerning the basie trends of Lévi-Strauss generał theoretical tbought. Some analysis concerning understanding of the relation between naturę and culture have been carried out to defend the above thesis, from the point of view of 1) the subject in question (naturę and culture as two distinct realities which are objectivized in people’s thinking), 2) the methodology (the ways of investigation of the relations that organize the two realities or link them together). It appears that symbolic thinking is always the factor which unites the orders of reality. This thinking uses both natural and social substance in order to make them into coherent logical systems. Lévi-Strauss analyses of totemism and mythologicai thinking excmplify this phenomenon (in the former case naturę is transformed into culture; in the latter – just the opposite occurs – culture is transformed
into nature). The paper presents an evolution of Lévi-Strauss point of view on the relation between naturę and culture. This evolution, however, has resulted in a clarification of the sense in which he uses both these notions. Duality of a possible understanding of these notions is best rendered by the following words of Lévi-Strauss: “nature is preculture and it is also subculture”.