phases in human perception/conception/symbolization processes: cognitive anthropology and symbolic classification

The immediate goal of this paper is to compare and contrast two approaches in anthropology that are concerned with the role of culture in ordering a people's universe – cognitive anthropology and symbolic classification. A larger aim is to propose a schema of human perception, conception, and symbolization, delineating different phases in these processes that represent distinct levels of abstraction in our concept formation. I argue that cognitive anthropology focuses upon the phases in which memory codes are established, whereas symbolic classification deals with the phases in which analogy codes are formulated. Each may thereby be seen to complement the other in our effort to understand the role of culture in the ordering of the universe. [symbolic anthropology, cognitive anthropology, culture and classification, anthropological theory, memory versus analogy codes]