Culture Is Not A Biologically Transmitted Complex

No One Culture Has Ever Developed All Human Potentialities; It Has Always Selected Certain Capacities, Mental And Emotional And Moral, And Stifled Others. Each Culture Is A System Of Values Which May Well Complement The Values In Another.

What Really Binds Men Together Is Their Culture, The Ideas And The Standards They Have In Common.

Most People Are Shaped To The Form Of Their Culture Because Of The Enormous Malleability Of Their Original Endowment. They Are Plastic To The Moulding Force Of The Society Into Which They Are Born. It Does Not Matter Whether, With The Northwest Coast, It Requires Delusions Of Self-reference, Or With Our Own Civilization The Amassing Of Possessions. In Any Case The Great Mass Of Individuals Take Quite Readily The Form That Is Presented To Them.

Society In Its Full Sense ... Is Never An Entity Separable From The Individuals Who Compose It. No Individual Can Arrive Even At The Threshold Of His Potentialities Without A Culture In Which He Participates. Conversely, No Civilization Has In It Any Element Which In The Last Analysis Is Not The Contribution Of An Individual.

Culture Is Not A Biologically Transmitted Complex