Anthropology, as its name suggests (anthropo = man; logy = study) is the science that separated itself from philosophy and gained a specific object of study, which is the analysis of origin, development, evolution of man, from his physical, biological, anatomical and historical and cultural.
For scholar Leslie White, the symbol is the basic unit of human behavior. Civilization only exists because of the symbolic behavior, characteristic of man. From Darwin's theory of evolution, much was asked about what man is and what is its difference in relation to other animals (superior mammals). Faced with anatomical data, it was noticed that the man's cranial case was larger and that, for this reason, his brain was also larger. In this way, thinking, reasoning, understanding, etc. they were linked to a greater power of association of ideas derived from the human mental faculties.
However, Leslie found that the difference between humans and other animals was a qualitative rather than a quantitative difference. This means that man uses symbols to exist, but that these symbols are created, invented, by humans themselves, unlike the animal, which can be conditioned by symbols, but can never create them. This power to create symbols is specifically human (there are no other beings that do, nor intermediate degrees).
A symbol is something whose value or meaning is assigned by its users. This value is never determined by the physical characteristics of the object in question, that is, its intrinsic properties, but always by something arbitrary that becomes conventional. For example, the word SEE. None of these letters, together or separately, indicate an action of visualizing something (in French it says VOIR, in English, TO SEE etc.). Meaning is part of the collective valuation of something, it is immaterial, but it is necessary that something physical represents the meaning, permeating our experience.
Leslie also distinguishes between symbol and sign. The first is creating the value of something. The sign is an indication of an already created value. It is a physical form whose function is to indicate something else, quality or fact. The meaning of a sign can be inseparable from its physical form (such as a thermometer with a mercury column which indicates the amount of heat) or just separated, as long as it similarly shows the thing (weather forecast, by example).
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Let's look at an example: Both a dog and a man can be conditioned to perceive a sound through the letters S-E-N-T-A and develop a behavior. However, the meaning of this word only man can give, create or invent, since the animal is incapable. Another example: for us in the Western Judeo-Christian civilization, black is the color of mourning, representing sadness, longing for those who are was, while for some eastern countries it is yellow, as death is a moment of joy due to the liberation of the body and the soul. The cross, which represents the suffering of Christ, is totally foreign to an African cannibal.
Also notable are the experiences Leslie followed. The creation of a child, together with a monkey (ape) showed that no matter how similar they are, having the same education, soon the child develops, together with speech and reflection, the construction and overcoming of exercises that the animal cannot even problematize.
It is evident, then, that the nature of man and that of animals are different and that studying man goes beyond his physical conditions, but also of historical conditions, because our history is the history that we freely construct from symbols we call values cultural.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP