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Full Idea
Given empirical evidence for the approximate intertranslatability of all human languages, and a universal innate basis of human cognition, we may wonder how 'other' any human culture really is.
Gist of Idea
If languages are intertranslatable, and cognition is innate, then cultures are all similar
Source
Timothy Williamson (The Philosophy of Philosophy [2007], 8.1)
Book Ref
Williamson,Timothy: 'The Philosophy of Philosophy' [Blackwell 2007], p.251
A Reaction
This seems to be a fairly accurate account of the situation. In recent centuries people seem to have been over-impressed by superficial differences in cultural behaviour, but we increasingly see the underlying identity.
| 19780 | We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed [Rousseau] |
| 19839 | The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired [Rousseau] |
| 14852 | Culture cannot do without passions and vices [Nietzsche] |
| 4495 | The high points of culture and civilization do not coincide [Nietzsche] |
| 20108 | Every culture loses its identity and power if it lacks a major myth [Nietzsche] |
| 20948 | Human cultures are organisms which grow, and then fade and die [Spengler, by Bowie] |
| 23846 | Culture is an instrument for creating an ongoing succession of teachers [Weil] |
| 23414 | Liberals say state intervention in culture restricts people's autonomy [Kymlicka] |
| 9600 | If languages are intertranslatable, and cognition is innate, then cultures are all similar [Williamson] |
| 15662 | The 'culture industry' is an advertisement for the way things are [Finlayson] |
| 20679 | We stabilise societies with dogmas, either of dubious science, or of non-scientific values [Harari] |
| 21432 | Culture is the struggle to agree what is normal [Gibson,A] |