University of Chicago Press and Wenner-Gren Foundation For Anthropological Research Are Collaborating With JSTOR Current Anthropology

Symmetry and Entropy: Mathematical Metaphors in the Work of Levi-Strauss [and Comments
and Reply]
Author(s): Mauro W. Barbosa de Almeida, Bernard Arcand, Paul Jorion, Claude Assaba, Michael G
. Kenny, Sheldon Klein, David B. Kronenfeld, Jesse W. Nash, Jacob Palis, Jr. and Stephen David
Siemens
Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Aug. - Oct., 1990), pp. 367-385
Published by: University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research
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CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3I, Number 4, August-October I990
? I990 byThe Wenner-Gren forAnthropological
Foundation Research.All rightsreserved
ooII-3204/90/3I04-0002$2.50
Tiger!Tiger!burningbright
Symmetryand
In the forestsof the night,
What immortalhand or eye
Could framethyfearfulsymmetry?
Entropy WILLIAM BLAKE
Models, Structures,and Machines

MathematicalMetaphorsin The influenceoflinguisticson Levi-Strauss'sstructural-
the WorkofLevi-Strauss' ism is fully appreciated. In particular, Levi-Strauss
(i983b) has stressedthe importanceof his contactwith
Roman Jakobsonin the United Statesduringthe I 940S.2
Less attentionhas been paid to his repeatedreferencesto
byMauroW. Barbosade Almeida the botanical, zoological, and geological sources of his
structuralism, forwhich phonologyhas simplyprovided
a clearand distinctparadigm(Levi-Strauss1955b:42-43;
Levi-Strauss and Eribon i988:i56). One neglected
Levi-Strauss's
structuralism is hereconsidered as partofan intel- source, for example, is Thompson's (i96i [I942]) On
lectualtrendthatgainedcurrency duringthefirsthalfofthiscen- Growthand Form,firstpublished in I9I7 and (aftera
tury-a trendtowardsgreaterconcernin themathematical, physi periodof neglectby mainstreamDarwinian biology)re-
cal, andbiologicalsciencesforinvarianceandstructure thatis publishedin I942. The I940S were in facthospitableto
characterizedbytheimportance oftheconceptofthetransforma-
tiongroup.Levi-Strauss has introduced theessenceofthistrend, the heretical ideas of Thompson, whose intention(to
moreat a stylisticlevelthanbymeansofdefinite demonstrations summarizeroughly)was to discovera mathematicalkey
intothehumansciences.Basic mathematical structures, theprin- to the unityin diversityof naturalformsor, more pre-
cipalone beingthatofthealgebraicstructure ofthetransforma- cisely,to specifythe transformations thatlink those di-
tiongroup,underlieall themodelshe has examined.It can be verse forms (Thompson i96i [I942]; Levi-Strauss
arguedthathis anthropology leads to theconclusionthatthehu-
manmindoperatesin different culturesaccordingto thesebasic I958a:358).3
structures-that theyareuniversals.ButLevi-Strauss is also con- Other features of the intellectual climate of those
cernedwithprocessesofchange,decay,and evolutionin struc- years are also relevant.The distinctionsbetween me-
tures.The effortto combinethestructural approachwithan inter chanical and statisticalmodels and between stationary
estin disorderand changeis a neglectedbutessentialaspectofhis
theory. and cumulative historythat are so importantin Levi-
Straussianthoughtderivedirectlyfromthe revolution-
MAURO W. BARBOSA DE ALMEIDA is a Ph.D. candidateat theUni ary work of the mathematicianNorbertWiener,who
versityofCambridgeand Lecturerin theDepartment ofSocial foundedthe science ofcybernetics.Boththese contrasts,
SciencesoftheStateUniversity ofCampinas(CidadeUniver- which appear in works of the ig5os such as "Race and
sitaria-BaraoGeraldo,Campinas13.083, Sao Paulo,Brazil).Born History"(I973c [I 952]) and the methodologicalchapters
in I950, he was educatedat theUniversity ofSao Paulo (B.A.,
interestsarein Amazonforest of StructuralAnthropology(I95 8a), parallel the opposi-
1972; M.A., 1979). His research
populations, especiallyrubbertappers,extractive reservesas de- tiontracedbyWiener(i96i [I948], ig5o) betweenNew-
velopmentalternatives fortheAmazon,andmathematical mod- tonian mechanics and the mechanics of Gibbs and
els in anthropology andrelatedsciences.He has produceda book- Boltzmann.4
lengthmanuscript on peasantfolkliteratureemploying the A similar contributionwas Shannon's (I949) com-
modelsofLevi-Strauss and Propp.His publicationsinclude"Di-
lemasda razaopratica:Simbolismo,tecnologiae ecologiana munication theory,which many saw as promising(to-
floresta amazonica"(Anu6rioAntropol6gico, I986, pp. 13-26). getherwith cybernetics)a means ofbringingto thestudy
The presentpaperwas submitted in finalformI4 III 90.
2. Jakobson is said to have observedthatlinguisticconceptswere

not simply"applied"by Levi-Strauss but givennew significance
(Levi-Straussand Eriboni988).
3. The articlereferred to is dated I956 and the editionof On
Growthand Formquoted i952. It would be interesting to know
whenLevi-Strauss encountered Thompson'sbook,onwhichGould
(i984) has writtena synthetic andpertinent commentary. (Gouldis
also theauthorofa fascinating structuralanalysisofgeologicaland
bricolagetexts[I9871.)
4. Levi-Strauss mayhave been impressedby the expositionofthe
basic ideas of thermodynamics and Maxwell's demon-by the
point of view of mechanicalstatistics,in such markedcontrast
i. This articleis an amplifiedversionof the introduction to a withthatoftheElementary Structures.Whatis interesting is that
courseon Levi-Strauss givenat CampinasStateUniversity in the he didnotrepresstheseideas (whichcoincidedwiththoseofShan-
secondsemesterof I987. I am gratefulto MariaManuelaCameiro non on languageand those of von Neumannon society)but as-
da Cunhaforsuggesting thatI tumit intoan articleandfordiscuss- similatedthem.His "On Social Structure" (1953) is a firstattempt
ingit withme. to integratesuch questionsintoa classification.
367
368 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 31, Number 4, August-October I990
ofhuman behaviorthe accuracyand powerofthe physi- extended to the human sciences by the then nascent
cal sciences.5Levi-Strauss'snotion of models draws on models of economic behavior(game theory),communi-
anotherseminal workof the I940S, the theoryofgames cation (informationtheory),and controlprocesses (cy-
developed by the mathematician Johnvon Neumann bernetics).In retrospectone sees thatvon Neumann and
and applied,in collaborationwith the economistOskar Morgenstern,Shannon, Wiener,and Levi-Strausswere
Morgenstern,to economic behavior (von Neumann all simultaneouslyfoundingconvergenttheoriesof so-
and Morgenstern I944; Levi-Strauss i958a:328-29). It cial communication taking the form,respectively,of
should be rememberedthat game theorydepends on a models of games, dialogue, commands,and exchange.
basic distinction between two-person and n-person One new featurethat these models had in common
games analogous to thatdrawnby Levi-Straussbetween was the idea that scientificactivity consisted in the
restrictedand generalizedexchange.Again, the distinc- searchforinvariantsthatwould be revealedat the level
tion between zero-sum and non-zero-sumgames in- ofmodels ratherthanthroughthe studyoftheproperties
formsLevi-Strauss'scontrastbetweenritualand history of objects. This conviction derived ultimatelyfroma
and betweenelementaryand complex structuresof kin- revolutionin mathematicsthathad its originin the end
ship.6 of the igth century.The new mathematics,beginning
Otherinfluencescan only be conjectured.The notion withthe non-Euclideangeometries,had freeditselffrom
of the transformation group,which featuresin Wiener's the obligationto representobjectsrealistically,recogniz-
book and in Thompson's,7was applied to phenomenaof ing that it was engagedratherin acts of construction.
artand lifeby Weyl (,952).8 Finally,it was in the I940S Group theory(which expressesmathematicallythe no-
that a groupof mathematiciansin Paris,writingunder tion ofinvariancein a familyofmodels) is the basic tool
the collectivenom de plume ofNicolas Bourbaki,began ofthisperspective.Createdin the secondhalfofthe igth
to publisha reconstructionofthe whole ofmathematics century,it was applied at the beginningof the 2oth to
with an explicitlystructuralorientation.Andre Weil, geometry,to relativitytheory,to quantum mechanics,
one ofthe avatarsofNicolas Bourbaki,was the authorof to biology,and to art. It is Levi-Strauss'smeritto have
the mathematical appendix to the ElementaryStruc- introducedits essence into the field of the human sci-
turesof Kinship (Levi-StraussI97ia[i949]:567-68), the ences.
firstcontributionto a small mathematicalliterature. Von Neumann, Wiener,and Shannonhad earlierbeen
A commonthemeofthese pioneeringscientificworks engagedwith mathematicallogic,which in the twenties
of the I 940S was thatmodelswould proveto be the and thirtieswas increasinglycharacterizedby the use of
means par excellence forthe productionof knowledge. algorithms.In the fortiesthis mathematicswas applied
This is, of course, an old idea, one that motivatedthe to new fields,such as thatofintelligentmachines.These
geometryof the ancient Greeks,and the second preface wereinitiallynot real pieces ofhardwarebutratherideal
to Kant's CritiqueofPure Reason attributedthe success models of processes of sign production,an example be-
of the naturalsciences since Galileo to the use of mod- ing the Turing machines, which representedformally
els. But it was only in the fortiesthat this promisewas the genericstructureof calculation. In principlesuch a
machine could calculate virtuallyanythingcalculable
5. Wiener(ig5o:prefaceand chap. 8) was entirelyscepticalabout (van Heijenoort i967), holdingout the promisethatnot
suchhopes,and Levi-Strauss (i958a:63-65) was in fullagreement onlybehaviorbut thoughtitselfcould be modeled.9Ma-
withhim.In contrastto theimportance theyacquirein Bateson's chine analogieswere becomingmoreacceptable,ceasing
(I979:esp.chap.4) work,theideasoffeedback, control, andequilib-
to be synonymsformere mechanism.Today theyhave
riumplayno partin his book.
6. There is more than one parallelin structurebetweenLevi- lost theirstrangeness.We are familiarwiththe idea that
Strauss'sand von Neumannand Morgenstern's work.Each has a the Unconscious is a machine that producesmeanings
firstpart (respectively, restrictedexchangeand the two-person (Lacan i966), that detective novels are machines for
game)anda secondpart(respectively, generalized exchangeandthe reading(Narcejac I975), thatgrammarsare machinesfor
n-persongame).The Elementary Structures (1949) was viewedby
Levi-Straussas a firststageoftheory, to be followedby"Complex producingsentences(ChomskyI957), and even that
Structures."He founda completesolutionforelementary struc- there are machines forwishing (Deleuze and Guattari
tures,but thereis no such solutionforcomplexones. Similarly, I977) and forcancellingtime (Levi-StraussI964).
von Neumannfullyelucidatedhis two-persongames (gamesof Associatingstructuresand machines has a tragicim-
redistributionor exchange),but n-persongameshave no general
solution.As fortheanalogybetweenritual(elementary structures plicationthatis the themeofthis article.Symmetry and
= stationary history)and zero-sumgames,on the one hand,and entropy(whichmay serveanthropology as metaphorsfor
games(complexstructures = cumulativehistory), on theother,it distance and forloss) are the termsof an irreconcilable
shouldbe remembered thatin economictermszero-sumgamesare contradiction.A distanced and disillusioned perspec-
phenomenaof distribution, whereasnon-zero-sum games imply tive, which recognizes, paradoxically, both the in-
production or loss (Levi-StraussI958a:3.28-29; I962b).
7. The distinctionbetween"continuous"and "discrete"groupsis variance of formand the certaintythat it must decay,
the principaldifference betweenThompson'sand Levi-Strauss's cannot transcendthis contradiction.
models (cf. Benoist 1977:332; Levi-Strauss 197ib:6o5).
8. Weylshowsthesurprising andprofound unityin termsofgroup 9. Turingmachinesprovidea linkbetween"production" theories
theoryofphenomenastudiedbymathematics andphysics(relativ- and Chomskyanlinguistics,while Markovprocessesprovideone
itytheory,quantummechanics,equationtheory)and phenomena between "exchange" theoriesand Saussureanlinguistics.Von
ofbiologyand ofart.(Did Levi-Strauss
knowofthisbook?)On the Neumannbelongsto bothparadigms, sincehe contributed
to the
oftheworkofM. C. Escherwiththethemesofstructural
affinity theoryofproduction (Marx/von Neumann/Sraffa
economics,natu-
analysis(grouptheoryand topology),see Coxeter(1972). ral numbers)as well as to a communication
theory(gametheory).
ALMEIDA Symmetryand Entropy1369
Structures the savage mind in general(i962b:esp. chap. 5). The al-

gebraicstructuredoes not disappearherebut is enriched
Bourbaki's reconstructionof mathematics began with by an additionalstructure.Levi-Strauss'srecentinterest
the notion of structure.In Bourbakistontology,objects in cladistics (i983c:I227-28) belongs to this order of
have no intrinsic properties.Every universe is con- ideas.
stitutedby objects and, separately,by the relationships In the same sense that algebraicstructuresmodel op-
in which theyare set. Structuresare modes ofspecifying erations and structuresof ordermodel hierarchies,to-
what relationshipshold between objects. Propertiesof pological structuresmodel proximity.Whereasalgebraic
objects are to be derivedfromthese relationshipsalone, structurestell us how one object is transformedinto
notfrominherentcharacteristicsofthoseobjectsviewed anotherand structuresof ordertell us how one objectis
in isolation. Bourbaki (I966 [i958]:68-76) identifieda related to another,topological structurestell us what
few elementarystructuresthat are basic to the whole objectsare close to a givenone. Thus a topologicalstruc-
mathematicaledifice:algebraicstructures,structuresof ture endows objects with neighborhoods,givingus an
order,and topological structures.'0Each of these struc- idiom forproximityamong objects by means of which
turesspecifieshow to use objects or, alternatively, how we can speak about continuityand form. Topology
to thinkabout objects.This is the blueprintforthe con- refinesand enriches ideas of space (algebra)and time
structionof models in Levi-Strauss'swork. (order),informingthem with a concernforcontinuity.
Algebraic structuresspecify operations. Operations This is why in Levi-Strauss's Mythologiques (I964,
act upon objects to produceobjects.Addingi to a num- i966a, I968, I97ib) we encounter groups (algebraic
ber producesa number;applyingthe specification"son structures)and networks(structuresof order)that have
of" to a kinship termproduces a kinship term.Opera- geometric identities, emerging,for instance, as the
tions may also be linked; an operationmay therefore Mobius bands and Klein bottles that are central
itselfbe the productof several otheroperations.In the metaphorsin his The JealousPotter(i985).
algebraicstructureknown as a group,an operationcan Levi-Strauss'suse of algebra, "order," and topology
always be undone by a furtheroperation. Algebraic can be traced sequentially in his publications dealing,
structurescan thereforemodel such disparatethingsas respectively,with kinship,classifications,and mythol-
movementsin space (whichcan be combinedto produce ogy. It could be said that in Levi-Straussianthought
further movementsor invertedto producea null move- Kantian modes of perception(basicallyspace and time)
ment),sums (which can be repeatedor invertedby sub- are replaced by mathematical structures(groups,lat-
traction),and the decoration of a surface with tiles tices, topologies). Instead of systematicallysubstitut-
(whichcan be added to or mirroredas in an Escherdraw- ing the master structures(structuresmere [Bourbaki
ing).The notionofsymmetry belongsto thisdomain"- i962:43]) ofmathematicsforthe Kantiantranscendental
that of the ElementaryStructuresof Kinship,in which subject,however,Levi-Straussexperimentswith struc-
marriageand descent are operationsthat can be com- turesresultingfromconcretemodels drawnfromethno-
bined and inverted. graphicmaterial.In otherwords,Levi-Straussianmodels
Structuresof order deal with choices, hierarchies, are roughversionsof mathematicalstructures,built by
and classifications.Having in StructuralAnthropology bricolageout of pieces of ethnography. Thus it has not
(i958a:342-5I) posed the problem of an "order of or- been his practiceto applya particularmathematicalthe-
ders,"Levi-Straussdevotedtwo further importantworks ory to a specific area (e.g., in kinship, totemism,or
to these structures,one on totemism(i962a) and one on mythology). Indeed,it seems to have been afterhis rough
models ofkinshipwere completedthathe consultedthe
io. Bourbaki'shistoricalconsiderations are especiallyrelevantto mathematician Weil to provide a rigorousversion of
an understanding that anthropologists
of the difficulty such as them. Since then,departingfromthe ElementaryStruc-
Radcliffe-Brown (I977) had withtheconceptofstructure (Bourbaki turesofKinship,mathematicians,physicists,and econo-
I966 [i958J:fascicule des resultats,p. 73): "Surtoutil a et assez
difficile... de se libererde l'impressionque les objetsmathema- mists have proposeda varietyof mathematicaltheories
tiquesnous sont'donnes'avec leurstructure." of kinship systems, drawing on the theory of finite
i i. The Elementary mightbe readbya mathematician groups,matrixtheory,graphtheory,Markovchains,and
Structures
as a catalogueofroughexamplesofsmall finitegroups,theirfac- even Hilbertspace.'2 These efforts have oftenproduced
torizationintosubgroups, and theirrepresentation bysociological
equations.As earlyas I945, however,in "Structural Analysisin
Linguisticsand Anthropology" (I95 8b) (similarin depthand pro- i2. Samuel(i967) has elaborateda particularly interesting version
grammaticimplicationsto "The StructuralStudy of Myth" basedon theidea ofa groupofoperators on a set. (I am grateful to
describesa groupstructure
[i95 5aJ),Levi-Strauss (theKleingroup) AntonioGalvezforthistext,editedbyArtibanoMicalifromnotes
it as a subgroupofa groupofsixteen of i959.) An importantcontribution,
and goes on to characterize alongsidethat of White
elementsthatyieldstwoinvariableequationsconstituting an alge- (i963), is thatof Lorrain(I975), whichinvestigates the theoryof
braicexpressionofsociologicalconditions.Herehe firstmodelsan functors. Samuel classifies,foreach numberofclassesofkinship,
analysisderivedfromRadcliffe-Brown, comparesitwithdiscrepant thepossiblestructures; Lorrainbeginswitha freegroupofinfinite
facts,amplifiesthe model,insertingit into a moregeneralclass, elementsand reducesits size withstructural restrictions, laterre-
and findsthe additionalequationthatpreservesRadcliffe-Brown'slyingon this constructionin formulating an analogybetween
originalresultandintegratesthediscrepancies; in eachcase theset spacesandsystemsofmarriage anddescent.Gregory (i982) returns
is theclass ofmodelsthatpreservesas an invarianta collectionof to the matrixapproachin demonstrating the unitybetweenthe
sociologicalconditions.Severalrefutations ofthissurprising arti- Marx/vonNeumann/Sraffa theoryofproduction/distribution and
cle failedto noticethegeneralmethodimplicitin it,treating it as a Levi-Strauss's theoryofthedistribution ofwomen(amplified bya
mereexpositionoffacts(Levi-Strauss i958a:chap. 7; also chap.6). theoryof personproduction). Ballonoffand Duchamp (1976) de-
370 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 31, Number 4, August-October I990
interestingand unexpectedillustrationsof the explana- The View fromAfar

torypowerofmodernmathematics-which, in contrast
to classical mathematics, sometimes appears at first When we locate a pointin space, we give it coordinates:
sightto be too abstracteven forengineers,who may be longitudeand latitude,forinstance.To establishcoordi-
startledby its anthropologicalapplication.Anthropolo- nates we need a point as the origin.A philosopherat-
gists,in contrast,have made little or no use of this ap- temptingto synthesizeLevi-Strauss'smessage has as-
paratus,although it would have allowed them,forex- sertedthat structuralismdid not invent structuresbut
ample, to reducevariouspresuppositionsimplicitin the simplydispensedwith the need fora privilegedpointfor
analysesofLevi-Straussand Radcliffe-Brown to theform the descriptionof a structure(Derrida i967). A parallel
ofaxioms.13 Sophisticatedtopologicalinstrumentshave mightbe the structuralanalysis ofspace. Modernmath-
been made available forthe studyof mythologicalphe- ematics should be able to preservethe resultsof analyt-
nomena (see, e.g.,Petitoti988).14 And obviouslymodels ical geometryand yetdispensecompletelywitha partic-
constructed-albeit at some sacrificeof elegance-with ular system of coordinates for the descriptionof the
the aid of computersmay have heuristicvalue (Heritier propertiesoffigures.The demonstrationofits theorems
i98i:chap. ii). should be "coordinate-free." In the process we sacrifice
Levi-Strausshimself has not, however, undertaken theunique location ofa pointin space, but in compensa-
this kind of task, nor has he developed,as Piaget did, a tion we preservethe relations between this point and
systematicprogramofinvestigationbased upon the rep- others,which we can call invariants.
ertoryof basic mathematicalstructures.He has worked The invariantsthat are retainedwhen we abandon a
at theinterfacebetweenthe sensibleworldand the intel- specific system of coordinatesare what we call struc-
ligibleworld,mergingempiricalminutiaeand aesthetics tural properties.In geometry,a straightline remainsa
and using terms such as "transformations,""inver- straightline whateversystemofcoordinatesis used, but
sions," "n-dimensional spaces," "Boolean algebra," it no longermakes sense to describeit as, forexample,
"Klein bottles," and "groups" as stylistictools forthe horizontal.It may appearhorizontalunderone systemof
constructionby bricolage of originalmodels. But if he coordinatesbut verticalunder another.The concept of
makes no effective use ofmathematicsas eitherprogram transformation enables us to translatetheway a straight
or technique,is he merelyflirting withfashionableideas line appears under one systeminto the way it appears
as Kroeber suggestedwith regardto the term "struc- underanother.Now, transformations may be thoughtof
ture"? eitheras changesofthepositionofa straightline undera
There is moreto it thanthat.Mathematicaland physi- particularsystem of coordinates or as changes of the
cal tropes carrya heavy burdenin Levi-Strauss'stexts. systemof coordinates.Thus in a sense it becomes im-
They expressbasic ideas about human society.It is vital possible to distinguishbetweenmovementsofan object
to him that these metaphorsshould come fromphysics and movementsofthe observer.The structuralapproach
and mathematics,forthey imply the continuityof the implies an essential relativism.
human with the natural order. There are two basic To appreciatetheimplicationsofthisforanthropology
metaphors: one based on the idea of transformation it is helpfulto think of,forexample, value systemsor
groups,whose essence is the existenceofsymmetry, and culturalrules as systemsof coordinates.Cultural facts
the otherbased on the idea of the machine, whose es- are describedin a unique way under a given systemof
sence is the notion of irreversibility. The firstis the coordinates,but thereshould be transformations linking
"view fromafar"(at its extreme,a view thatis situated this with otherways. Let us suppose that a societyhas
nowhere).The second is central,forinstance,to Tristes marriagerules of the kind that Levi-Strausshas called
Tropiques (i955b), with its treatmentof the passage of elementary.Such rulesare describedethnographically as
time and the inevitableirruptionof disorder.'5 marriageprohibitions(as between brotherand sisteror
parallel cousins) or prescriptions(as with a cross-cousin)
or as terminologies(which,forinstance,equate whatwe
call "grandfather" and "grandson").These data (prohibi-
velopa dual theoryoftheproduction anddistribution ofpersonsin tions, prescriptions,terminologicalequations) can be
whichmatricesaretreatedas operators in a spaceofinfinitedimen- seen as local maps on which a particularindividual
sions. places otherindividuals.But everyindividualis related
I3. This is the essence of investigations such as thatof Heritier
to othersin such a way as to make it possible to move
(ig8i:chap. i). Curious consequences may result fromvary-
ing the basic axioms,permitting non-Morganian kinshipstruc- fromone map to another,the formof the map being
tures.In the ElementaryStructures,for example,Levi-Strauss invariable (at least this is what should happen in an
(197ia[i9491:233) refersto a marriagesystemconstitutedof en- elementarystructure, in which all individualsofa given
dogamoushalves,explainingit as a survival.But systemsofthis sex are equivalent). Levi-Strausstakes as his problem
typeemergenaturallyfroma non-Morganian structurethat re-
quireskinship"exopractics"butnot necessarilyexogamy. relating these individual maps to global structures-
14. Petitot's articlesforthe EnciclopediaEinaudi (e.g., i985), movingbeyondindividualsand theirparticularsystems
whichI readafterwritingthe originalversionofthisarticle,were of referenceto a global patternof "exchange of wives."
ofgreatimportanceforits conclusion. It is possible to think of marriage and filiation
I 5. Strictly speaking,symmetry is opposedto asymmetry as atem-
poralityis to temporality; conservation is opposedto entropyas geometrically, say,as arrowspointingto the rightofEgo
reversibility discreteto continuous,globalto or below him. Now, if the action of the marriagearrow
is to irreversibility,
local,lifeto death. (leadingfroma groupof brothersand sistersto a group
ALMEIDA Symmetryand EntropyI 37I
fromwhich the formerobtain wives) and that of the Now let us suppose thatafteran intervalwe observea
filiationarrow(leading,say,froma groupofbrothersand largeror perhapsa smallertable. We are stillable to see a
sistersto a groupof sons and daughtersofthe former)is table, but now we are dealing with a new fieldof sym-
repeatedagain and again, the marriagearrowwill even- metriesin which we recognizethe figureofa square but
tually come full circle,and the filiationarrowmay also at different scales, as it were. We can go beyondthis and
do so. In particular,foreveryoperationthat leads from see tables thatare rectangularbut have lost the property
Ego to a groupofwifereceivers,thereis an inverseopera- ofhavingequal sides. Even now we can recognizea fun-
tion that leads to a groupof wife givers.The notion of damental similaritywithin this family of forms,ex-
reciprocityis generalized by Levi-Straussas the exis- pressedas invariantfeaturesin a widergroupoftransfor-
tence ofan inverseto the marriageoperation.Moreover, mations.
manyspecificationsare expressedas rules involvingthe This is not all, forwe may dispensewiththerigidityof
operatorsof marriageand filiation(e.g., the prohibition straightlines and admit surrealistversionsofthe square
of marriagebetween cross-cousinsis equivalent to the in which it is graduallytransformed into a softversion
assertionthatmarriagefollowedby filiationis different and finallyinto somethinglike Dali's watch. In thislast
fromfiliationfollowedby marriage).We have a space of groupof transformations the propertyof constitutinga
possible operations in which each culture inscribes closed curve remains invariant.(This may be read as a
some special equations, retaining some features in- briefsketchofthe historyofartup to surrealism-since
variant.One of these invariantsis the above-mentioned Cubism, by dissipatingspaces, destroyedtopologicalin-
existenceofan inverseforthe marriageoperation.Along variance, the last vestige of the preservationof form.)
with others (such as that every combination of the The project,in short,is to study the propertiesof an
operatorsmarriageand filiationproducesa recognizable object by looking at a groupof transformations.
operatorand that the number of distinctresultingop- There is, however,anotherway of consideringthese
eratorsis finite)thisis a descriptionofthe mathematical same transformations. In imaginingmoving the table,
structureof a finitegroup.Group structure(a domain of we have assumed that we, the observers,are ourselves
operationsthat is closed when combinedand in which immobile.But how do we know thatit is notwe who are
thereis an inverseforeveryoperation)capturesthe es- turning?When the square is enlargedor reduced,it may
sence of the ElementaryStructuresof Kinship. be that we are moving closer or fartheraway, and the
There are two ways of conceivingthe,structuralpro- same applies to the othertransformation groups.Clearly
gram.One is to imaginehow descriptionsmightchange the observersthemselves must be consideredas con-
with changes in systems of coordinates and then to stitutinga groupof possible transformations character-
specifypropertiesof the descriptionsthat remain in- ized by certaininvariants.We can thinkeitherofa fixed
variantdespite these changes. The otheris to observe observer and a family of changing objects (retaining
how objects are transformed within a single systemof some invariantfeatures)or ofa familyofobservers(who
coordinateswhile retaininga familyresemblance.In the retainthe abilityto communicatewith each other)and
case of mythsone would wish to characterizethe in- certain constant objects seen fromdifferent points of
variantfeaturesof a set of mythsthatundergotransfor- view.
mations but remain mutuallyintelligibleand "in com- This line of thoughtwas formulatedwith respectto
municationwith each other."In the case ofkinship,the geometryby a mathematicianwhose name oftenappears
reciprocityprinciple would be an example of an in- in the writings of Levi-Strauss: Felix Klein (I92I
variantfeaturethatis preservedwithina whole familyof [i872]).16Subsequently discussedbyWeyl(I946 [I9391),
elementarystructures. it has become a commonplace in several areas of con-
A transformation thatleaves certainfeaturesinvariant temporaryscience. As the biologistMonod (I972:chap.
is here called a symmetry.Given the figureof a square, 6) has said,'7
forexample,such a transformation would be rotatingit
There was a "Platonic" ambitionin the systematic
go'. What does it mean, however,to say thatthe square searchforanatomical invariantsto which the great
remainsinvariantwith this transformation? Is it trueof
nineteenth-century naturalists,afterCuvier and
a square seen (perhapsin theformofa table)fromseveral
Goethe,devotedthemselves.Modem biologists
different positions in a room or in a photographor, dis-
sometimesdo less thanjustice to the genius ofthe
torted,in a surrealistpainting?The answeris that each
men who, behindthe bewilderingvarietyofmor-
of these cases is an example of a groupof transforma-
phologiesand modes oflifeoflivingbeings,suc-
tions that retainssome invariantfeature.
Let us imagine what the table looks like fromabove.
Rotated goo around its centeror rotated i800 it would i6. "Geometricpropertiesare characterizedthroughtheir in-
variancecomparedwith the transformations of the fundamental
look exactly the same. Rotations by multiples of go9 group" (p. 463).
describesymmetries;theyconstitutea groupoftransfor- I7. This quotation,chosenat randomfromamonginnumerable
mations that can be repeatedand inverted,leaving the others,conveyswell the mood of Thompson's(I96I [I9421:268-
table identical.Moving the table aroundthe room initi- 325) "On the Theoryof Transformations or the Comparisonof
ates a new and largergroupoftransformations, including Related Forms" (cf.Levi-Strauss I97ib:604-6). In physics "the im-
portant things in the world appear as the invariants . . . of these
arbitraryrotations and displacements,that leave the transformations....The growthoftheuse oftransformation the-
table invariantas a rigid object. Here we have a new, ory... is the essenceofthe new methodin theoreticalphysics"
more comprehensiveconcept of invariance. (Dirac I987 [I930]:vii; see also Feynmani965).
372 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3i, Number 4, August-October I990
ifnot a unique "form,"at least

ceeded in identifying, identificationof the relevanttransformation groupwill
a finitenumberof anatomical archetypes,each of expresswhat is invariant,at the same time allowingfor
theminvariantwithinthe groupit characterized. the diversityfoundin the world.'9 The invariantsof a
theoryare preservedin everysystemof reference.Thus
It is preciselyin this traditionofthe searchforinvariant
observationsmade fromone point ofview may be trans-
form within a transformationgroup that Thompson
lated into observationsmade fromanother,just as one
wrote On Growth and Form, Propp (I968 [I955]) ana- images of a square observedfrom
relates the different
lyzed hundreds of Russian folktales,and Levi-Strauss
different angles.20Diversitybecomes compatible with
wrote his Elementary Structures of Kinship and
unity.
Mythologiques.
Carryingthis metaphorto its extreme,we arriveat a
Beforemovingon to the more generalimplicationsof
more general thesis. Invariant propertiescharacterize
this programit is necessaryto bringout its particular thatcan be
thehuman minddespitethe transformations
notion of multiplicityand identity."Identity"is not
chartedfromone society to another.Such transforma-
used to referto objects or substances; it refers,as in
tions are formallyreversibleto the degreeto which they
Weyl's definitionof symmetryas a resemblance that
constitutea group.Thereis no pointoforigin,no favored
survives transformation, to relational properties.For
scale forhumanity.Human nature has its roots,so to
Weyl,the notion of transformation groupsbecomes the
speak, in a transformation group.
equivalentofthenotionofidentity.Describingtheiden-
This metaphor is equivalent to a view from afar,
tity of an object, then, is equivalent to specifyingthe
which is not restrictedto one favoredpoint of observa-
groupof transformations to which it belongs.
tion.To the extentthatanthropologists are concernedto
3 and 4) suggestedthatnot
Leibniz (I 95 6 [I 7 17]:letters
characterizethe notionofhumanity,theymust attempt
even God would be able to distinguishour worldfroma
to specifythe tranformation groupto which it belongs.
world in which spatial relations between objects re-
This amounts to displayingthe potentialitiesof the hu-
mainedunchangedbut rightand leftwere invertedor all
man mindwithoutthe constraintofa particularframeof
dimensions multiplied by two-in other words, that
reference.If one could thus exhibitthe whole groupof
these worlds would be one and the same. As against
transformations thatleaves invariantthe featuresofthe
Newton, Leibniz was thus a radical structuralistor, human mind across societies and cultures,this would
what amounts to the same thing,the precursorof a rel-
amount to a characterizationof the verynotion of hu-
ativistrationality.'8
manity.
Let us now returnto Levi-Strauss (I977:Io) to see
how this conception leads to a particularformof an-
thropological relativism. The transformationgroups Tristes Tropiques
treatedby structuralanthropologyconcernsuch objects
as kinship systems and myths. Transformationsare There remains the second metaphor,the machine. It
symmetriesthatlead fromone mythto anotheror from mightseem that this is not reallya separatemetaphor,
one kinship system to another. In The Savage Mind since structures,in the above sense, can be describedas
(i 962b), Levi-Strauss even considers transformations machines. An algebraicstructuremightbe treatedas a
linkingdifferent societies or subsystemsand operating machinethatuses two objectsas inputand producesone
upon cognitive,economic, and aesthetic systems. As objectas output(thisanalogyhas been exploredin detail
early as I945 (igs8b) he was treatingthe "kinship in cybernetics,forexample, by Ashby [I956], following
atoms" of various societies as formingpart of a single Bourbaki)-or, to put it more simply,as a descriptionof
groupof transformations. theway in which thehuman mind (orhuman agent)acts
From this perspectivethere are no favoredobjects. on things,using things,to produceotherthings.Follow-
Any mythmay be the point of departureforobtaininga ing this line of thought,structuresof orderwould be
whole transformation group.The relevantpropertiesare machines formaking choices. Thus, given two objects,
equally valid throughoutthese transformations;in a these structuresenable us to say which ofthemis domi-
sense, the relevantpropertiesare exactlythose that re- nant or,perhaps,to finda thirdthat dominatesboth (as
main valid as we changethe positionofthe observer,his in a classification system in which for each pair of
scale ofmeasurement,his orientation,his values. Struc- species there is a higher taxon that subsumes them).
turalismdescribesinvariancein objectsor,alternatively, Topological structureswould be measuringmachines.
invarianceamongobservers.It is fromthispointofview However,althoughmachines can be thoughtofas mate-
relativistbut not in the sense of the culturalrelativism
that asserts the uniqueness of cultural differences. ig. "[T]herelativityof anyphysicaltheoryexpressesitselfin the
Rather,the relativismof structuralismis analogous to groupof transformations whichleave the laws of the theoryin-
thatwhich physicistshave in mind when theyspeak of variantand whichtherefore describesymmetries,forexample,of
space and timearenasofthesetheories"(RindlerI977:I-2).
the relativityof a theory.This is veryfarfromthe idea the 20. "[L]'ethnologie
contemporaines'appliquea decouvriret a for-
that everythingis relative (meaningthat each observer muler... lois d'ordredans plusieursregistresde la penseeet de
applies his own unique "laws"). On the contrary,the l'activitehumaines.Invariantesa traversles epoques et les cul-
tures,elles seules pouvrontpermettrede surmonter l'antimonie
apparenteentrel'unicitiede la conditionhumaineet la pluralite
i8. The aim ofLeibniz'sargumentwas to demolishNewton'sidea apparemment inepuisabledes formessous lesquelles nous l'ap-
to achievethis.
ofabsolutespace. It tookthetheoryofrelativity prehendons" (I983a:62).
ALMEIDA Symmetryand Entropy| 373
rialized structures(in the sense that computersare ma- This is the implication of the metaphorof the ma-
terializedTuring machines), theirmaterial (as opposed chine. In time, a machine comes to a halt. Its initial
to mental) character introduces a fundamental dif- energyis lost throughattrition.Thermodynamicscame
ference. into beingwith the studyof the efficiency of machines,
Levi-Straussis well aware of the implicationsof all and its most celebratedlaw is in effectthata perpetual-
this. An essential featureof the structureof a transfor- machinemotioncannotexist.It is therefore naturalthat
mation groupis thattransformations have no necessary thermodynamicsshould informa book entitledTristes
direction. Newton's universe and Einstein's universe Tropiques.A closed systemis subjectto ever-increasing
can both be describedin termsof transformation groups entropy;in other words, its structureis degraded.But
thatare not limitedto a singletemporaltrajectory-that theuniverseofwhich lifeand thoughtarepartis a closed
can function,as it were, both forwardand backward system. The modern cultural world has also become
withoutalteringthe structure.Forinstance,an observer closed-a global village withoutexternalfrontiers. Life,
would not notice violations of the laws of physicsin a myths,classifications,marriagesystems,painting,and
solar systemthat moved in the oppositedirectionfrom music lose their structure,are transitoryirruptions.22
our own. As Leibniz mighthave put it, not even God They are like diminishingripplesin a lake or a dazzling
could establishthe "correct"directionof time in New- butephemeral sunset(Levi-Strauss i95 sb:48-5 5, 374).23
tonian and Einsteinian universes. These universes,in Entropyendows time with a definitedirection:time
Levi-Strauss'sterms,are mechanical models, character- flowstowardsthe loss of structure,the loss of informa-
ized by not only spatial but temporalsymmetry.Simi- tion,the loss ofbeauty.Transformations ofmythologies
larly,the mathematicaltransformations introducedby and ofkinshipsystemshave a time arrow:theyhave life
Thompson to relate naturalformswere not intendedto cycles,histories.We move fromLeibnizian mathemat-
represent evolutionary processes, to which he was ics to the physics of an industrialage-or, to use an
notoriouslyindifferent. expressionfromLevi-Strauss,fromoppositional differ-
Levi-Straussinvokes this idea in his antiracistessay ence to historicaldifference. The reasonis thattransfor-
"Race and History" (I973C [I9521]:397-98) in arguing mations of the human spiritmust be rootedin matter
against an evolutionistinterpretationof human diver- and are thereforesubject to the laws that governreal
sity.All societies are equal ifthemodel ofeach is simply machines.There is, afterall, an arrowoftimein history,
a transformation of the models of the rest and could be but it does not point onwardand upward.What the evo-
inverted.The notionofprogress,like the sense ofmove- lutionism of Leslie White saw as progress(increase in
ment, is not absolute. When we travel on a train our per capita energyextracted)is, on the contrary, degrada-
sense of movement depends on referenceto a selected tion: the diminutionof per capita diversity(fewerlan-
systemof coordinates.2' guages, fewer religions,fewer kinship systems,fewer
But Levi-Straussis the firstto have recognizedand aesthetic styles, fewer natural species, fewer animals
stressedthat thereare also irreversiblechanges,forin- and plants).This is what happenswhen a tropicalforest
stance,in kinshipor in mythology.The systemsofgen- burnsto feedboilersor cattle,transforming shamansand
eralizedexchangeofAsia are on thepointofbreakdown, warriorsinto cheap labor,pansies into eucalyptus,infor-
beyondwhich lies the domain of the statisticalsystems mation into energy.
exemplifiedby rural European societies. Kinship sys- The "tristestropiques" are thus the appropriatefield
tems of the Crow-Omaha typesimilarlyindicatea tran- forthe observationin situ not only of mythsand mar-
sition from mechanical to statistical models-for in- riagesystemsbut also of contemporary processesofdeg-
stance, kinship systemscharacterizedby the existence radation. The metropolis consumes more and more
of cognaticallytransmittedhouses (Levi-StraussI979, meat,energy,ores-wealth to feeda singlemodernstyle
i983 d, I984). In movingfromAustraliato Asia and from
Asia to Europe,therefore,we move frommodels of re-
penseemythique... ne semblejamaissatisfaite d'apporter
strictedexchangeto models ofgeneralizedexchangeand une"[L]a
22.
seule reponsea un probleme:sitotformulee,cettereponse
from these to statistical models, from symmetryto s'inseredans un jeu de transformations ou toutesles autresre-
asymmetry,fromreversibleto irreversibletransforma- ponsespossibles'engendrent ensembleou successivement . . . jus-
tions, fromthe discrete to the continuous, and from qu'a ce que les ressourcesde cettecombinatoire se degradent, ou
qu'ellessoientsimplement epuisees"(i983a:232-33). On painting,
global to local structures.Kinship structuresdie. craftsmanship, and naturalspecies:"on peutcraindrequ'il en soit
Mythsalso die. A myththatis transformed into other de lui commede ces especesvegetaleset animalesque l'homme,
myths respects the invariants of the transformation dans son aveuglement,aneantit les unes apres les autres"
groupto which it belongs,but eventuallythese are ex- (I983a:343).
23. "Cette image [thestagesof a sunset]n'est [elle]pas celle de
hausted or the invariantsbecome attenuated.They are l'humanite meme et, par dela de l'humanite,de toutesles mani-
like the ripplesmade by a pebble throwninto a lake: the festationsde la vie: oiseaux, papillons,coquillages et autres
concentriccirclesdie away with distanceand with time animaux,plantesavec leursfleurs,dontl'evolutiondeveloppeet
until they cease to be distinguishablein the chaotic diversifieles formes,mais toujourspour qu'elles s'abolissentet
movement of the water in the morningbreeze (Levi- qu'a la fin,de la nature,de la vie,de l'homme,de tousces ouvrages
subtilset raffines
que sontles langues,les institutionssociales,les
Strauss I973b; I968:I06). coutumes,es chef-d'oeuvres de l'artet les mythes,quandils auront
tir6leursdemiersfeuxd'artifice, rienne subsiste?"(L6vi-Strauss
2i.The relativistmetaphorused hereis takenup againin "Race I97ib:62o-2i). Wiener's (I96I [I948]:chap. i) illustration of ir;
and Culture"(I983c [I97I]:29-30). reversibility is the shapesofcloudsin the sky.
374 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3i, Number 4, August-October I990
richin messages but poorin codes. Historyis not revers- article on mythology.To returnto a metaphorfrom
ible,but neitheris it chaotic.Humankindmoves byran- physics,he adopts Wiener's suggestionthat statistical
dom steps towardsattractivestates that can be seen in phenomenabe studiedwith his own theoryofgroups,in
retrospectas the goals of historyonly because alterna- other words, that invariantsbe sought in essentially
tiveshave been eliminated.The richnessofthe transfor- temporalphenomena.
mationsthatexpressthepossibilitiesofhumannatureis In contrastto mechanical models (thedomain ofsym-
erasedon behalfofprogress.Not only are shells or flow- metry),forwhich Levi-Strausshas provideddetailedpro-
ers trampled,a society or a forestsacrificed,but whole grammatictexts,statisticalmodels (the domain of bro-
ethical systems,typesof attitudestowardslife,families ken symmetryand irreversibility)have not received
of techniques,traditionsof knowledgeand pleasure are magisterialtreatment.They are examined in scattered
destroyed-and with them the symmetriesthat,as in a passages in the ElementaryStructures(the transition
hall of mirrors,reveal frommany angles the unity of fromelementaryto complex structures),the Mytholo-
man. Ironically,it is the human species itselfthat per- giques (the transitionfrommythsto novels), and, in a
verselyannihilatesthe verydiversityof which it is but special way, openingas it were a new epoch, in the sec-
one manifestation (Levi-StraussI983 b:374).24 ond prefaceto the ElementaryStructures(I 97 i a [I 9491),
which,taken togetherwith some passages in Mythand
Meaning (I978), The Way oftheMasks (I979), The View
Time-cancellingMachines fromAfar (i983a), Anthropologyand Myth (I987), and
"Historyand Ethnology"(I983d), mightbe read as the
Irreversibility
is not just a melancholyoperatorthatsets prefaceto a potential"Complex Structuresof Kinship."
limits to structuralanalysis. Seen as a break in sym- In Levi-Strauss'smechanical models, a finitenumber
metry,it is an essential aspect of the spiritin which of states is transformed into otherstates mechanically,
Levi-Straussworks with kinship systems and myths. that is, with no element of choice, as in Needham's in-
Symmetryand asymmetryforma pair of oppositions. terpretation of the notion of "prescriptivesystems."26If
Orderis not naturalbut an artificein which a possibility a systemabandonsone stateit is forcedto adoptanother.
is seen to be active: galaxies, crystals,livingformsare As with virginityand incest, it is a question of all or
islands of symmetryin an ocean of entropy. nothing.Given such discrete,unambiguous states, in-
Levi-Strausshas been criticized by orthodox struc- versionsare possible. In otherwords,it is necessaryfor
turalistson precisely this point. Needham (i962) has the two statesto be preservedas distinctstatesfortrans-
called fora sharpdistinctionbetween determinismand formationsto be capable of inversion,thus forminga
chance (prescriptiveversus preferentialsystems),and group.
Dumont (I97I) has assertedthe preeminence of the For example,let us imagine a box dividedinto halves
global over the local.25These writershave appealed re- labeled A and B. In the initial state therearen objectsin
spectivelyto radicalversionsofsymmetry and ofholism A and zero objects in B. This is a representationof a
in reaction to the empiricist criticisms of Edmund discretestate,which can be read as a messageofthetype
Leach, David Maybury-Lewis,and others (Levi-Strauss yes or (i, o) and which is "opposed" to the "inverse"
I97ib:22I-23; I960). Levi-Strauss,however, has message of the type no or (o, I). A state in which the
adoptedneitherNeedham's symmetrizing orthodoxy(in objects were equally dividedbetween A and B could be
which, in a kind of mentalistversionof structuralism, read as perhaps-yes/perhaps-no or (o.5, o.5). This stateis
structuresexpressed in terms of unambiguous rules not clearly"opposed" to any other,nor is it clear what
would dominate) nor Dumont's holistic orthodoxy(in its "inverse"would be. It can, however,be thoughtofas
which structuresare supposed to resultfroma preexist- a deteriorationof the firststate-as iftherewere a hole
ing totality).He has perseveredin his pursuitof sym- or door between A and B throughwhich objects could
metryin human affairsbut now emphasizingthe lo- escape, ultimatelyblurringthe initial message.
calized, changingnature of such symmetry.Thus the Ifthe objectsin question are personsand the boxes are
existenceofa global,reversibleorderacquiresthe status actions by them or states in which theyare found,then
of a perhapsnecessaryillusion. Forthis approachhe has machines of the firsttype,in which objects cannot es-
had,afterall, the exampleofmusic,whichthriveson the cape from their compartments-the door being kept
irruptionof asymmetryand the unforeseenwithin a tightlyclosed-correspond to forms of behavior and
structuredpatternof tonalityand rhythm.It is no acci- classificationthat Durkheim would have seen as gov-
dent that he took music as a basic paradigmin his first ernedby mechanical solidarity(roughlyspeaking,each
24. "La disparition formulation(probably

d'uneespecequelconquecreuseun vide,irrepa- 26. Levi-Straussusually uses a different
rable a notre echelle, dans le systeme de la cr6ation" (i983a:222- takenfromWiener):mechanicalmodels are "at the scale of the
23). Thereis an interesting analogyto be drawnbetweenBenja- observer"and statisticalmodels "beyondthe scale of the ob-
view
in artandLevi-Strauss's
min's(e.g.,I 98 5) notionofmodernity server."The point,however,is the same: in models"beyondthe
of modernityin science,betweenBenjamin'scollage and Levi- scale of the observer"it is impossibleto applydefiniterulesto
Strauss's bricolage. Benjamin thought poetically and prized individualobjects, eitherbecause there are too many objects
metaphoras the greatestgiftof language(Arendti968); Levi- (whosemultipleinteractions make the problemunmanageable-
Strauss comparedhis whole mythologicalanalysis to a vast theproblemofn bodiesofclassicalmechanicsorthegeneralprob-
metaphorofmusicalbeauty. lem ofn-persongames)or because the objectsare too small and
25. "On ne peutpas tirerune formule holisted'une reglelocale" observation withtheirbehavior(thequantumcase orthe
interferes
(p. I24). studyofsmall groups).
individual "knows his place"). Machines of the second triesto escape fromcompartmentA into compartmentB
type,in which objects escape fromtheircompartments, and openingit most ofthe times an objecttriesto return
each on its own, throughan open door,describebehav- fromB to A, it keeps A "marked"and B "unmarked."By
iors that Durkheim would have termedanomic. preservinga discreteand improbablestate in this way,
In my opinion it is an importanttheoreticalcontribu- the demon preventsthe increase of entropy.Maxwell's
tion of Levi-Straussto have perceived that these two demonis a machineforcancellingtime in the onlyform
typesof machine belong to the same family."Prescrip- in which its directionis recognizable: the increase of
tive" models (conservativemachines, which keep the disorder,or entropy.
door shut) and "complex" models (anarchicmachines, We may imagine Maxwell's demon's assuming the
which leave the door open) representextremesbetween form of any of a variety of mechanisms: repression,
whichthereare "preferential" models thatkeep the door collective conscience, tradition, voting, constitu-
shut most of the time but not always.27 tions, rules, taboos, preferences,maps, styles, and
The existence of a door between the compartments cosmologies.29An antientropymachine restrictsthe
destroysthe initial structurein time. If the initial dis- universeof possible worlds,introducingconstraintson
cretestate involvesfourobjects,thereare sixteenpossi- the to-and-fromovement of objects. This is just what
ble ways of distributingthese between the compart- happens with marriagerules and taboos in small-scale
ments only one of which correspondsto the initial societies or with customs and immigrationregulations,
distribution(p p p p /-) and onlyone to its inverse(-/ p p educationalsystems,and even stylesin large-scaleones.
p p). Mechanical models would be those that eitherre- Anotherexamplemightbe the controlleddistributionof
tain the initialdiscretedistributionor allow a transition vowels in the poetryofPushkinfirststudiedbyMarkov.
onlyto its inverse.In contrast,fourpossible worldscor- Maxwell's demonsmightalso patrolculturalfrontiers,30
respondto the "preferential"distribution(p p p / p) and operatingclassificatory ethnicmachines.It is a matterof
fourto the "preferential"distribution(p / p p p), while keeping objects in the same boxes (endo-machines,
six possible worlds correspondto the anarchicdistribu- which include ethnic machines) or of keepingthem in
tion (p p / p p). Thus discretestates are simplyless nu- different boxes (exo-machines,which include marriage
merous than other possible ones. If objects can pass machines). The point of the model is that the intrinsic
freelythroughan open door at random,thenin the long propertiesof the objects do not matter;what mattersis
run all possible worlds will be representedwith equal how objectsare distributedso as to assertan opposition.
frequency.As there are more possible disorganized In this sense, the model accords well with theoriesof
worldsthan discreteones, most ofthe time the box will ethnicitythatmake political criteria(eitherthe decision
be a disorganizedworld.This is the basic idea ofirrever- of group A or conflictbetween this decision and the
sibility: systemspass fromimprobablestates to more decision of groupB) decisive in markingethnic bound-
probableones. What we call entropyis a measure of the aries.3'
probabilityof the state in which the systemis found.In
otherwords,a systempasses fromstates oflow entropy
to states of high entropy. FromNearby and fromAfar
Time is irreversiblebecause as time passes entropy
increases. Conversely, machines that preserve some If Maxwell's demon were perfectlyefficient,entropy
symmetry, reversiblemachines,requirethe arrestofthe could be cancelled and perpetual-motionmachines
processesof entropy.Withoutthis violationneitherlife would be possible. But it is not easy to freeoneselffrom
norculturewould exist.The physicistJamesClerkMax- time. Wiener (I96I [I948]:57-58) describes what will
well representedthis violation anthropomorphically as eventuallyhappento a Maxwell demon: "the demoncan
a demon placed in the doorwaybetween the two com- only act on informationreceived.... In the long run ...
partments,opening and shuttingthe door depending it receivesa largenumberof small impressions,until it
on what it sees (WienerI96I [I948]:56-58; Monod fallsinto 'a certainvertigo'and is incapable ofclearper-
I972:chap. 3; Prigogineand StengersI979).28 In other ceptions." The point is that the demon is part of the
words,Maxwell's demon is guided by information, and
it uses this informationto preserveimprobablestates. 29. On ethnicitynot as substancebut as operatorofthepreserva-
tion of diversity,see Cunha (i987:97-io8).
Thus by shuttingthe door most of the times an object 30. In "Race and History"(I973c [i952]), as partof a critiqueof
Levi-Strauss
ethnocentrism, calls intoquestiontheidea ofprogress
27. These "machines"can be thoughtofas reprenting a seriesof fromthe pointofview ofsocietiesthatfunctionas machinesfor
Heritier(i98i), followinga suggestion
past observations. byLevi- cancellingtime.In "Race and Culture"(I983b [I97i]) he shows
Strauss,has constructed such a machine,whichhas not just two thatthe "ethnicmachine"(in facta kindof time-cancelling ma-
but many more compartments. probabilisticma-
Altematively, chine) is antientropic(cf. Gellner i983).
chinesmay be thoughtof as models of ideal behavior,as in the 3I.Cf.Cunha(i 985:2o5- 9). This theoryofethnicity the
illustrates
cases of "preferences" or gameswithmixedstrategies.For Levi- oppositionbetweenLevi-Straussianand "relativist"theoriesof
Strauss,in contrastto Needham,thesemodelsarenotall radically culture.It doesnotassumeirreducibility-except in thesensethat
distinct,and a particularsystemmightbe describedbothin terms a culturalphenomenonis notreducibleto an economicorphysio-
of a "conservative"machine(say,as ideology)and in termsof a logicalphenomenon. in thesensethatit
The idea ofirreducibility
"liberal"one (as a practicalreality). is impossibleto translatethelanguageofone social groupintothe
28. Fora moretechnicalapproachthatis stilllucidforthegeneral languageofanother(as in Whorf 's hypothesis)
is an expressionof
readerofthisand otherphysicalthemestreatedin thisarticle,see radicalculturalismand mustbe rejectedforthe reasonsset forth
Feynman,Leighton,and Sands(I963-65). above.
376 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3i, Number 4, August-October I990
systemthatit controlsand is itselfsubjectto entropy.In global termsand shows how theymay be reformulated
time, like a drunkenporterit ceases to discriminate, as argumentsabout the transitionfromlocal to global.A
throughthe influenceofthe clientelewithwhich it is in global propertyleads univocallyto local properties,but
constantcontact,and becomes unable to deny entryto to move froma local property(even one that is valid
undesirablecustomers.Perhapsbecause it cannotobtain "everywhere")to a global propertyit is necessaryto pre-
informationwith impunity,perhapsbecause it findsit suppose propertiesof space such as connectivityand
difficultto rid itselfof useless memories accumulated compactness(JanichI984: I4, i8). Powerplays and other
overthe centuries(see Bennettand Landauer I985, Ben- kinds of manipulationdeformthe geometryof the im-
nett I987), a Maxwell demon also dies. mediate neighborhood. Individual strategies, even
Though not immortal,a Maxwell demon may have a thoughthey are subordinateto rules of the game that
long career-but onlyifit is fedfromwithout.It is as if prescribea finite set of possible moves, can amplify
its discernmenthad to be strengthened by the injection small random changes leading to local structuresof
ofenergyand informationfromthe outside-a symbolic power.
re-creation,an exchange with neighbors,communica- This is the subjectofLevi-Strauss'smost recentinves-
tion with outside political movements (as in Lenin's tigations.The formationof anthillsfromtendenciesin
WhatIs To Be Done?, wheretheproletarianorganization the statistical behavior of individual ants, not from
comes fromwithout)(Almeida I988). Dissipative struc- global rules,not only suggestsan analogywith the for-
tures,accordingto Prigogine
and Stengers(I979), pro- mation of cognatic houses but may contributeto an
duce organizationfromchaotic fluctuationsin systems understandingof the marriagesystemsof South Ameri-
that are not in equilibrium.But these antientropicma- can forestsocieties known fortheir changing,flexible
chines can functiononly locally because they depend rules.In fact,thereis nothingto preventus fromviewing
upon energyfroman externalsource. (The problemof such situationsin termsof statistical,historicalmodels
modernsocietywould thenbe thatit has eliminatedthe (in which thereis some measureofirreversibility),at the
"external,"which up to now has been constitutedby a same time keepingin mind the importancethatdefinite
set ofdifferent cosmological,sociological,technological, rules of marriagecan have in them. In this situation,
and ecological universes.)From the metaphorof a me- which could be termedquasi-statistical,variousalterna-
chanical and global universe we move to a Markovian tive rules may coexist even though empiricalobserva-
and local universethatstrugglesto sustainits invariance tionshows onlya singlerulebeingappliedin a particular
in the face of the continuingand insidious threatof situation. Borrowingthe terminologyof game theory,
disorder. We conclude, after this digression on the mixed strategies are possible. In the process, local
symmetry/asymmetry dialectic, with the global/local "strong men" emerge temporarily,much as anthills
theme. Here it is necessaryto use a differential geome- arise fromthe interactionof rules and chance. Local
try. groups,fluctuatingand unstable, treat their surround-
A cyclistturnsthe handlebarsof his bicycle slightly; ings as sources of matterand informationthat is then
the effectis to introducea curveinto his trajectory.He convertedinto internalorderand continuity.
needs to look aroundhim fora local map. He also needs Myths clusterlike stars accumulated as nebulae in a
to move frompresentmaps to new maps as he enters starrysky. We only see the mythicaldust of our own
new places. Under certainconditionshe may describea neighborhood, and we must be contentwithunderstand-
circle,and in this case we could providea global model ing tendencies that operate locally, curvingmythical
of his trajectoryin terms of the formula "all points space, and acceptingthatperhapsit is afterall visible as
equidistantfromthe center."The cyclist,however,does a whole onlyto an imaginaryobserversituatedat a point
not look at the center(ifhe did he would probablyfalloff in infinity.The analysis of mythsis necessarilylocal.
his bicycle).All he needs are his local maps, which fol- Prigogineis rightabout Levi-Strauss'sstructuralism:in
low one anothercontinuously,and a slightturnthat is it orderand chance, symmetryand entropyinterpene-
held constantwith each of these local maps. The global trate.Utopias also changein nature.Insteadoftheglobal
model is ours,not his. In fact,since maintaininga con- utopias of the igth centurythereare local utopias,mi-
stantcurvatureis difficult, thereis no guaranteethatthe crostructures,symbolic styles renourishedby an inte-
curve traced at each moment will result in a geomet- rior/exteriordialectic, with no guarantee of perma-
ric circle. All we can then say is that some curvature nence.
is being imposed on the trajectory (Levi-Strauss Symmetryis fundamentalto Levi-Strauss'sthought.
I97Ia[I949]:223). Symmetryis first undermined by entropy: there is
The transitionfromlocal to global is simple in situa- no symmetry betweenpast and future.The consequence
tions in which space locally representsa constantcurve ofthisfirstbreakin symmetry is thatstructuresmustbe
(as in a circle, in which each point has an identically investigatedat a local level. Thus thereis also no sym-
curved neighbor).But the point is preciselyto know, metrybetweenglobal and local. But hereit is possibleto
departingfroma local fact,whetherit is valid as a global say ofLevi-Strauss'sresearchwhat he has said ofmusic:
property. The space maybe irregular, orit maybe impos- where we expected symmetrywe findboth orderand
sible to apprehendit in a global form(PetitotI985). The disorder.Blake's question remainsunanswered.
second edition of the ElementaryStructurestakes up Levi-Straussshould be creditedabove all with the in-
argumentsthat in the firstedition were expressedin troductionofthe essence ofthe theoryoftransformation
groups-an invariancetheory-into anthropology, plac- PAUL JORION AND CLAUDE ASSABA

ing himselfin the companyof those who, with Thomp- 36 rue Saint-Paul,75004 Paris/3S rue Popincourt,
son, Weyl,and othersin physicsand mathematics,have 750II Paris,France. i6 Iv 90
grasped the importanceof such concepts as tools for
understandingthe world,both human and nonhuman. There is a dangerinherentin any approachsuch as that
Thereforehe should also be associated with a rejection developed by Almeida of analyzingthe work of a con-
of the modernbrand of ethnocentrismthat consists in temporaryscholaras ifit belongedto remoteantiquity-
separatingnatureand cultureand ratingthe formerin- of elicitingthroughpseudoarcheologicalmethodswhat
feriorto the latter. the thinkerhimselfwould gladlyacknowledgeifonlyhe
were asked.
This having been said, one can indeed wonder,along
with Almeida, why Levi-Strauss'sworks so constantly
Comments and strikinglydisplay the semblance of algebra while
neverhavingrecourseto it. One ofus once reflectedon
the apparentmystery(Jorioni985) and decided to settle
BERNARD ARCAND forthe Frenchanthropologist'sown suggestion(personal
Departementd'anthropologie,UniversiteLaval, communication,i983) of idiosyncraticshortcomingsin
Quebec, P.Q., Canada GiK 7P4. II Iv 90 the understandingof mathematics.But if this were in-
deed the case, why sustain over the years-as Levi-
Studentsat the Campinas State Universityshould con- Strausshas-the hardshipsofreinventingalgebrawith-
siderthemselvesprivilegedto have receivedan introduc- out the supportof the methoditself?Hence our present
tion of such quality to the works of Levi-Strauss.Al- suppositionof a deliberatemove-something in the na-
meida's argument is clear, informed,and especially tureof Hegel's Logic, in no way indicatingignoranceof
stimulatingin pointing with remarkableflair to the the thingitselfbut on occasion unfoldinga projectal-
places fromwhich the more relevantdebates should de- togetheralternative.
part-all mattersthatlecturerson structuralismshould Interviewed by Georges Charbonnier,Levi-Strauss
appreciate.As always, one could of course quarrelwith once said, "I believe all problemsto be linguisticones"
partsof the argumentor ask that one's favouritedetail (see Pace's apt comments [i983:chap. 8]). And there
be discussed at greaterlength,but thatwould seem un- should be no doubt in readinghis theoreticaltexts on
fairin lightof Almeida's aims. structuralanthropologyof the late fortiesand early
In otherwords, I have nothingbut praise forhis in- fiftiesthat the structurallinguisticsof the time offered
troductorysummary,and I would go on to suggestthat him a paradigm.As has recentlybeen confirmed(Levi-
theremightbe othermeans of reachingthe same objec- Strauss and Eribon i988), the New York conversations
tive. Although Levi-Strauss has probably never done with Roman Jakobsonplayedan essentialand formative
much more than pay lip service to his mathematical role in this respect.Here Levi-Straussfoundprinciples
analogies and metaphors,he remains of course an eru- foran approachto the "sciences de l'homme" that dis-
dite of the findingsof modernscience, and his work is played the appropriatedegreeof formalitywhile at the
verymuch within the mainstreamof modem intellec- same time avoidingthe intricaciesand theimproprieties
tual developmentsin fieldsfrombiologyto communica- of mathematicsas a tool applied to man.
tion and cybemetics. Perhaps another commentator One can in retrospect,and in the light of the paper
could equally well argue the notion (only brieflynoted Levi-Strausslaterdevotedto Propp'sformalapproachto
here) that much of Levi-Strauss'swork is indeed funda- the fairytale (Levi-StraussI973d [I960], assume that
mentallyanalogous less to mathematicsthanto musical Jakobson'swork representedfor him a well-balanced
construction-or, again, that,as a greatfan of cinema, ("bien temperee") version of formalismwhile Propp's
he has introducedinto 2oth-century anthropologya per- representedthe dried-upversionof a social science that
spectivederivedfromthe blatantrelativismofthe cam- an exaggeratedconfidencein thetheoreticalcreativityof
era and the immediate concernforstructuralrelations mathematicsas a tool would lead to: "Form should be
thatany editoroffilmmust always keep in mind.Better definedin contrastwith a matterwhichis alien to it,but
still,someone fromCampinas should make the effort to the structurehas no separatecontent:it is the content
demonstratehow Levi-Strauss,herepresentedas the im- itself,apprehendedin a logical organizationconceivedas
portantfigureof modern science that he rightlyis, in a propertyof reality"(I973d [I960]:I39).
fact learned and reproducedthe modes of thoughtand One has only to contrastin this respectthe fecundity
analysis of his most powerfulintellectualmasters,the of the conversationswith Jakobson,of the New School
Indians of Brazil. It may in fact have been the Nambi- for Social Research years, with the lack of conse-
kwaraand theBorrorowho introducedhimto elementary quences-as faras the anthropologist'slater theoretical
structuresand to the notions of symmetry, transforma- excursionsare concerned-of AndreWeil's contribution
tion, and entropy.This would requirea carefullook at to The ElementaryStructuresofKinship(I949:chap. I4).
the ethnographiesthat he only read in Paris but that Weil's intuitionof the potentialitiesof grouptheoryfor
neverthelessdominatedthewhole ofhis career.I believe the analysisofkinshipsystems,which inspiredour gen-
thathe would approve. eration of mathematically minded anthropologists,
378 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3I, Number 4, August-October I990
turnedout to have no influenceon the later work of in comprehendingorderand formin novel ways-the
Levi-Strausshimself. recurring question in the philosophyofscience. It seems
The founderof structuralanthropologysometimesre- to me that what Almeida has implicitlyundertakenis
sortedto the vocabulary of mathematics(e.g.,the "ca- the analysis of an episteme implicit in much modern
nonical formulaof myths" [i955a; i958a:252]), but in thought,whetherthephysicalsciences,anthropology, or
everycase he did so withinstatementsthatinfringed the the arts. What connections can be traced,it mightbe
syntaxofthe languagefromwhich thewordswerebeing asked, between physical and logical relativity,between
borrowed.By default,therefore, the principlesthat rule psychoanalyticaland artisticsymbolism(in surrealism,
such statementsunder his pen are not those of mathe- forexample),and betweenthese and the variousmodern
matics but those that rule ordinaryspeech: those of structuralisms?It is the merit of this elegant paper to
grammarand oflogic.But even logic-insofar as it trans- outline some of these basic issues with regardto Levi-
lates into a two-valuedalgebra-would have allowed the Strauss himselfand to point beyond to questions of a
typeof formalizationthat Levi-Strauss-we suggestde- much more general nature about the structureof con-
liberately-rejected. temporarythought,a fundamentallyrelational mode of
His reason is the one the passage quoted above from thoughtas opposed to older empiricismsand positiv-
"La structureet la forme"suggests:just as Aristotlepre- isms.
cludedfromthe start(HamelinI920:92-93) thatlogic
should be formalized,because the contentsofjudgments SHELDON KLEIN
are not indifferent to their (psychological,i.e. human) ComputerSciences Department,Universityof
validity(a view recentlyempiricallyconfirmedby psy- Wisconsin, Madison,Wis.53706, U.S.A. i2 IV 90
chologists),so Levi-Strausscould not endorsethe indif-
ferenceofmathematicsto the natureofthe thingsanon- By characterizing Levi-Strauss's structuralismas a
ymouslyrepresentedby Xs and Ys. "Xs exchange Ys" humanisticreflectionof igth- and 2oth-century devel-
can mean either that men exchange women or that opmentsin mathematics,Almeida avoids consideration
women exchange men, but it is men who do exchange ofthe evidenceforthe biological and historicalrealityof
women. It could have been otherwise in a different the modes of cognition that structuralismimplies. A
world,concedes Levi-Strauss,but it happensnot to be so veryrecent analysis suggeststhat a developmentalse-
in ours. And such a lack of symmetrycharacterizesthe quence in lithic technologydatingto the Middle/Upper
whole body of anthropologicalfacts.Whynot, then,de- Paleolithic transitionreflectsthe mathematical group
scribe the shapes of thingsand theirtransformation in concept in the cognitiveprocesses of the tool makers
plain languageand shut one's ears to the deceitfulsirens concemed (Klein I990). The evidence comes fromthe
of algebra?' site of Boker Tachtit, in the Central Negev desert of
southemIsrael,which was excavatedbyA. Marksin the
MICHAEL G. KENNY I970S and which revealed a sequence of foursuperim-
Departmentof Sociologyand Anthropology, Simon posed occupation levels separatedby interveningsterile
Fraser University,Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A iS6. deposits(Marks I 98I, I 983). Bothuranium-thorium and
II IV 90 radiocarbondatingtechniquesindicatethatthe occupa-
tionstookplacebetweenca. 47,000 and 38,000 B.P. The
Though this well-writtenand stimulating paper is sequence representsa seriesofrelativelyshort-livedepi-
primarilyabout Levi-Strauss,its broader significance sodes of human occupation and tool manufacturein a
pertainsto the use of metaphorsin constructingimages clear chronologicalsuccession and yieldeda numberof
ofthe social order.As Almeida says,"mathematicaland reconstructablecores (Hietala and Marks I98I). The de-
physical tropes carrya heavy burden in Levi-Strauss's tailed core reconstructionscarried out by Marks and
texts. They express basic ideas about human society." Volkman for these levels illustratethe proceduresby
Thus, usingmetaphorsdrawnfrommathematics,statis- which typical"Levallois point" formswereproducedby
tical mechanics, and thermodynamics, Levi-Straussin- means ofvarious sequences ofpreparatory blade detach-
vestigates the invariants which underlie the logic of ments from opposed-platformcores (Volkman I983,
transformational groupsand the inherenttendencyofall Marks and Volkman I987). There is an increasein num-
structures(whetherlogical or social) towarddisorder. ber of these variant sequences between levels i and 2,
Almeida chartssome of the sources of Levi-Strauss's and I have been able to derive the observed develop-
thinkingand theirpracticalmanifestationin such works mentsby a methodthatbegan with a transformation of
as The ElementaryStructuresof Kinship,the Mytholo- Volkman's descriptionof the variantsequences of pre-
giques, and Tristes Tropiques. Beyond these specifics, paratoryblade detachmentsinto the notation of Bool-
however,are the metaphorsthemselvesand theirutility ean groupsand ATO logic (Klein I990). The concept of
"Boolean groups" is explicated in Hage and Harary
i. Anyscientificventuredependson the stateofdevelopment of (I983:I5I-70) and formsthebasisforATO logic(Klein
mathematicsat the time it unfolds.Levi-Strauss'sprivatelyex- I977, i982, I983, I986, I988). The basic structureof
pressedadmiration (personalcommunication,i989) forcurrent de- Boolean
velopmentsin nonlineardynamics(catastrophe theory, chaosthe- groups can be specifiedby the rules of mod-2
ory,etc.),suggeststhathadthesearisen40 yearsearlierhis attitude arithmetic or, altematively, the strong-equivalence
towardsmathematics as a toolmighthavebeencriticallydifferent. operatorof mathematical logic. The concept of ATOs
(appositional transformationoperators)reflectscross- DAVID B. KRONENFELD

culturalevidence that,forsystemsmodelledby Boolean DepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof California,
groups,a transformation between any pair of elements Riverside,Calif. 9252I, U.S.A. 9 III 90
in a groupdefinesan analogical relationshipthat holds
between otherpairs of elementsin the same group. Almeida's paper raises an interestingquestion: What is
The reformulationof Volkman's results in terms of the relationship of Levi-Strauss's work to the meta-
ATO logic made it possible to derive by analogy core phors-linguistic, mathematical,and computer-ish,or
preparationsequences thatwere foundin BokerTachtit botanical, zoological, and geological-that run through
level 2 but not in level i. The result stronglysuggests it? In which cases has the metaphorled him to a produc-
that the analogical reasoningprocesses integralto the tive analytic insight,in which cases to a more or less
groupconcept and ATO theorymust have been partof torturedrestatementofthe problem,and in which cases
the cognitiverepertoiresof some Homo sapiens at least only to a way of talking around the problem?For the
as early as the Middle/UpperPaleolithic transitionin case ofmathematicaland computer-derived formalisms,
theNegev. Semanticcategoriesrelatedbythegroupcon- one is intriguedby the idea of treatingformalismsthat
cept and ATOs were both present,implicitin the tech- putativelydeal directlywith relations among proposi-
nology of the blade-removalsequence variations that tions of a theoryas instead only metaphorsfor those
predeterminedthe removal of opposed-platform Leval- relations.What is it that such metaphoricapplicability
lois points. shows?
Of equal importanceis the factthatATO logic can be The concept of invariance itself does not seem
used to model phrase-structure grammarsofnaturallan- noteworthy.Any analytic or even merelycategorizing
guages in the notation of categorial-grammar theory treatmentof any set of objects or events (or thoughts
(Klein I990). This can take place throughtheencodingof or .. .) necessarilyrelies on some contrastingof variant
grammaticalcategoriesas ATOs eitherin Boolean-group and invariantproperties.The "transformationgroup"
notationor in a notationrepresenting the groupconcept (whichever precise mathematical group structureis
by literalsymbols.Grammaticalcategoriesthen appear meant) does provide a powerful analytic device for
to representanalogical transformation operatorsthatre- understandingsome of how our minds representthe
late analogous grammaticalconstructions(Klein I989). phenomenal world in which we live. Piaget's work,in
This resultsupportsthe suggestionthat innovationsin thelatterpartofhis career,offersimpressiveevidenceof
lithic technologymay have been associated with elab- how such formalismscan be used to define the con-
oration of human language structuresand that both straintsthatgovernour productiveoperationsin/onthe
mighthave resultedfromthe same, generalhuman cog- world aroundus (as Almeida notes). But Piagetuses the
nitive changes,biological or otherwise.It also supports formalismnot as a metaphoror as the representation of
theview thatthe structuralprinciplesdiscernedbyLevi- some ethereal"essence" but as a directstatementofthe
Straussreflectpatternsoforganizationofhuman behav- relevantrelationsand constraints.He similarlyuses lat-
ior thatwere operativein the developmentofbehavioral tice structuresforotherkinds of relationsinvolvingin-
systemsat least as earlyas the Upper Paleolithic. equalities or asymmetries(see Flavell I963: chaps. 5 and
Althoughhuman languages seem to have properties 6 fora clear overviewof this use).
that require models more complex than context-free It is not clear, however, that Levi-Strausshas done
phrase-structure grammar,that kind of grammaris an more than simplyflirtwith the notions representedby
integralcomponentof most of them. Of special signifi- groupor lattice structuresor by cyberneticfeedbackor
cance is thefactthatcontext-free phrase-structure
gram- bygame-theoretic mini-maxing.Almeida,thoughseeing
mar can be used to describethe syntaxofmetalanguages the difference, does not contrastactually applyingfor-
or rule systemsthatspecifygrammarmodels. It can also malisms with metaphorically talking them and so
be used to describe the syntax of mathematicalnota- shows us neitherpreciselyhow Levi-Straussapplies his
tional systems,includingalgebrasand symboliclogics. formalismsnor what analytic gain accrues fromtheir
Accordingly,structuralisttheoryitself,including the only "rough" (metaphoric?)application.There exists at
mathematicsused to model its analyses, may be de- least one sense in which "models ... builtby bricolage"
scended fromthe same (pre-)Upper Paleolithic innova- mightbe seen as the very antithesisof mathematical
tions that gave rise to the phenomena it describes.As models. The actual formalstatus ofsuch conglomerates
Levi-Straussstates in the closingparagraphof The Sav- and the gains realized by theirapplicationseem worthy
age Mind (i966:269): of some attention.
Instead, Almeida speaks of the "heavy burden" that
The entireprocessofhuman knowledgethus as- "mathematical and physical tropes carry. . . in Levi-
sumes the characterofa closed system.And we Strauss's work." Used only metaphorically,mathemat-
therefore remainfaithfulto the inspirationofthe ical notionsmay tell us somethingofwhat Levi-Strauss
savage mind when we recognizethat,by an encoun- means to claim,but theydo not offerthekindofreassur-
terit alone could have foreseen,the scientificspirit ance or demonstrationconcerningthe validityor use-
in its most modernformwill have contributedto fulnessof the claims that we normallyfindin theirdi-
legitimizethe principlesof savage thoughtand to re- rect (i.e., nonmetaphoric)applications.
establishit in its rightfulplace. Almeida's discussion ofwhat he sees in Levi-Strauss's
380 I CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3I, Number 4, August-October I990
groupsand machines is interestingand stimulating,but toryfueled by the very mythsLevi-Straussstudies, or

with a kind ofambiguity:Are we talkingofthe worldas whimsical,as in the finalpages of L'homme nu. In the
it (supposedly?)is, the worldas Levi-Strausswould have same vein, to claim that the Indians beat Freud to the
it, or the world as Almeida sees it throughhis Levi- Oedipal punch in La potiere jalouse (I985) is to miss
Straussianlens? If one wants to disagreewith the view the ideological point of myth(see Derrida i982:257), to
he presents of machines or with the implications he fail to appreciatethe sociopolitical characterof the Oe-
drawsfromgroup-structure representationsor (fromthe dipal myth(see Deleuze and GuattariI972), and,finally,
perspectiveof chaos theory)with the scale at which he to overvaluethe "primitive"or "native."
sees the second law of thermodynamicsas applyingor Almeida's piece to some degreecontinuestheperspec-
with the energyconsumptionof his Maxwell demons, tive,givingthe illusion thata mythis a machineand the
fromwhat perspectiveor on what basis does one do so? readingof a mytha mechanical activity.The analogyis
misleading. Machines are created, built, and so are
myths.I stress this activitybecause mythsare essen-
JESSE W. NASH tiallyillogical.Theyhide theinherentcontradictionsand
DepartmentofHistory,Loyola University,New flimsyideological base of a cultureor society.Like ma-
Orleans, La. 70II8, U.S.A. 9 iv 90 chines,mythsrun a certainway because theyare built
to run that way. By givingmythsa base in naturallaw
Almeida has succinctlyplaced Levi-Straussin historical or the structuresofthe mind or the structuresofreality,
and intellectual context.If one may be playful,he has we avoid questioning the need to mythologizein the
placed Levi-Strausswithinhis "transformation group(s)" firstplace. And thatmust be the challengeofthe myth-
and in so doing indicated the difficultiesinherentin ographerin the future-the critiqueofmythand a ques-
such a notionas the transformation groupin generaland tioningof its status as the unmoved moverof culture.
Levi-Strauss'stask in particular.Curiously,and herein As I was readingAlmeida's article,I was also rereading
lies a major difficultywith his article,Almeida presents Thomas Pynchon'snovel The CryingofLot 49 (I966). IfI
Levi-Straussas a translatorratherthan a transformation had succumbed to Levi-Strauss,I would have thought
himself,an analystratherthan a partof the mythshe is this a most appropriatecoincidence or transformation.
analyzing.The "logic" of Levi-Strauss'smusingson his In thatnovel,a characterexplainsMaxwell's demonas a
role in mythmaking (I9s5 a, I97Ib) is that he too is a necessaryand originalpart of the system,but another
mythand can be nothingelse, since mythdiscloses the character,named of all things"Oedipa," questions that
basic structuresnot simply of the mind but of nature assumptionand asks ifthe demon onlyexistsbecause of
itself(the "hiddenlaw" ofthe "Finale" ofL'hommenu). a metaphoricalcoincidence,an accidentof equations,if
In this sense, Levi-Strauss's entire project in the you will (see I966:86, io6). Oedipa latermakes this in-
Mythologiquesis a "transformation"of models in the triguingidentification:"The act ofmetaphorthenwas a
so-calledmoreexact sciences and an applicationofthem thrustat truthand a lie, dependingwhere you were:
to "realities" a little more nebulous than crystals- inside,safe,or outside,lost" (i966:i29). Levi-Strauss as
culture,mind,nature,etc. the demon,the demiurge,of mythography isn't neutral.
However,once one makes such a transformation, the Nor is Maxwell's demon.Bothare guidedbyculturaland
human mind will appearto functionstructurally as "re- personal interests,the preservationof the status quo,
ality," becoming a mirror,and mythbecomes a holo- and thereforeboth are involvedin the subtle process of
gramofthe mind (see Nash I987:4I). It is not so surpris- misinforming. Maxwell's demon is a mythologicalcon-
ing, then, that Levi-Strauss tends to read myths as struct,much like Levi-Strauss'sMythologiquesand his
transformations of science or vice versa (i96Tb) or that interpretation of his own role, a hystericalbut doomed
he posits the existence of one mythonly (I97Ib). The forestallingoftime and disorder.Ultimately,the demon
issue is whetheror not such a transformation is neces- is a mythologicalhologram of the human, one who
saryand justifiable-whetherthe initial transformation wishes to orderbut who neverthelessparticipatesin dis-
by Levi-Straussis not fraughtwith too many mytho- ordering.AlthoughLevi-Straussis greatfunand insight-
logical presuppositions.It is temptingto suggestthat ful and Almeida's article is a wonderfuldescriptionof
his original transformationgroup itself was already what Levi-Straussis up to,we mightdo well to ask ifwe
mythologicallyinclined, animated by the grandsearch need mythologyand its assorteddemons ofmisinforma-
fororder,and that his orderingtask in the Mythologi- tion. Disordermay not be the demon; the mythmay be
ques is much like the hysteriaof totemism-that his the demon.
mechanicalreadingor structuring ofmythis but a mani-
festationof the great Westem demand for order (see
Nash I989:9). JACOB PALIS, JR.
The only problemwith such a perspective,eitherin Institutode Matematica Pura e Aplicada IMPA,
physics or in mythology/anthropology, is that myth, Estrada Dona Castorina II0, 22460 Rio de Janeiro,
myth making, and mythographyappear innocent,in- Brazil. I 7 Iv 90
escapable, innate, and ahistorical even when history
comes roaringin. We are reducedto beingalmost apolo- Being a mathematician,I read this paper with great
getic, because of the disastrousconsequences of a his- curiositybut also with some bias: I expected a some-
ALMEIDA Symmetryand EntropyI 38I
what superficial,if not altogetherpictorial or even writehis mathematicaltreatmentof kinshipstructures

artificial,use of fundamentalmathematical concepts (I97Ia [I9491);since Almeida seems unfamiliarwith
such as symmetryand entropyin this discussion of the this story,perhapshe has not seen it.
workofLevi-Strausson human structures.It is a delight I findAlmeida's descriptionof symmetryand struc-
to say that the article reversedmy expectations: Al- ture a remarkablyclear synthesis.His discussion ele-
meida shows respectableknowledge of the mathemat- gantlyrelates geometricstructureto kinshipstructure.
ical conceptshe is dealingwith in analysingthe workof He says that we can appreciatethe implicationsof this
Levi-Straussand, surprisingly, is quite convincingin ar-for cultural rules and value systems generally,but it
guing the importanceof these concepts in that work. is hard forme to see exactlyhow to extendthe idea of
Also, and even more surprisingly, by masteringmathe- "coordinate-free" descriptionbeyondkinship.
matical ideas and languageAlmeida is able to "deduce" The treatmentofentropyis enlightening. Almeida has
or at least guide the reader (or, say, a mathematical succeeded in bringingtogethermany passages dealing
reader)to the theses ofLevi-Strausson societies and hu- with the deteriorationof structureand therebymaking
man nature, order (symmetry)and disorderor loss of them less enigmatic. His choice of "machines" as a
structure(entropy).Particularlybrilliantin this respect metaphor,however,seems motivatedby thermodynam-
are thelast paragraphofthe sectionon structuresand his ics ratherthan any use of a machine metaphorin Levi-
descriptionof Maxwell's demon, especially the way in Strauss's writings.He mentions no specificpassage in
which the demon itselfmay be subject to entropy(be- which Levi-Straussuses the metaphorto convey irre-
coming a "drunkenporter").Althoughit is not crucial versiblechange,and he even devotes two paragraphsto
forthis discussion,he could have made clearerthe dis- explaininghow machines can be seen as symmetric,re-
tinctionbetween topologicaland metricinvariants,the versible phenomena. When he finallyconsidersasym-
second beingmore rigidand thus easier to destroy.Per- metric changes (startingwith kinship systems and
haps moreinterestingis to conjecturethathe mightfind myths)the metaphorhe uses is death (organicdeteriora-
a similaritybetween some of the argumentshe offers tion).He connectsmachineryto irreversible changesvia
here and yet another domain of mathematics,that of thermodynamics,but the examples fromLevi-Strauss
dynamic systems. In fact,more oftenthan not, when are sunsets and ripples.
using an iterativeprocess to model a complicatedphe- Levi-Straussdevotes chapter 8 of The Savage Mind
nomenon in another science (including,say, competi- (i962a) to the question ofhow conceptualstructuresare
tion of species),one encounterschaotic instead of orga- affectedbyirreversibletimewithoutrecourseto the ma-
nized and stable regimes(thisis not to be confusedwith chine image. Initially addressingthe question of irre-
catastrophetheory,which in my view is of much more versibletime (i962a:chap. 2), he comparesa "totemic"
limited scope). We are buildinga mathematicaltheory systemto a machine that functionsto correctforirre-
forchaoticsystems:theywill oftenbe amenableto some versible changes with compensationsto the systemof
description.Moreover,althoughthesesystemsare deter- correspondences(i962a:92). Thus themachineis operat-
ministic,built into theirstructureis a fundamentalsta- ing in the service of symmetryratherthan wearingout
tisticalpropertycalled sensitivityto theinitial data: no(irreversibly) is
Irreversibility
or operatinginefficiently.
matterhow similarwe considertwo initial states,their not the resultof the machinerybut occurs in spite ofit.
long-rangeevolution will probablybe verydifferent. The entropycomes fromoutside the machine.
Almeida's explanationof how disorderand ordercan
coexistwithinLevi-Strauss'sanalyticalframework is in-
STEPHEN DAVID SIEMENS sightful.Illustratingthe continuityof mechanical and
DepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof California, statisticalmodels witha discussionofMaxwell's demon
Los Angeles, Calif. 90024, U.S.A. i2 IV 90 he establishesa compatibilitybetweenthem: "orderand
chance, symmetryand entropyinterpenetrate."Never-
Almeida has performeda worthwhileservice by high- theless,some passages fromLevi-Straussgivemoreofan
lightingLevi-Strauss'suse of mathematics.He has per- impressionof conflictthan Almeida conveys: "les sys-
ceptivelynoted that there are two opposingthemes in temes qui nous occupent sont, en tant que systemes,
Levi-Strauss'sworkand thatboth are expressedthrough malaisement'mythologisables,'parse que leur etresyn-
mathematicalterminology.The themeofsymmetry has chroniquevirtuel est engage dans un conflitincessant
a richexpressionin termsofgroupsand transformations. avec la diachronie"(i962a:3o6).
The themeof entropycan be expressedin the languages Almeida's originalcontributionis to pointout the im-
of thermodynamicsand communicationtheory,but, as portance in Levi-Strauss's thought of irreyersible
Almeida points out, "statistical models (the domain of change, which perhaps has gone unnoticed because of
brokensymmetryand irreversibility) have not received the tremendouspower of the symmetrieshe has re-
magisterialtreatment."Levi-Strausshas, in fact, con- vealed in traditionalthought.Even in Almeida's conclu-
signedthem to sociology (Ig58a:3I4). sion, symmetryis acknowledgedas the fundamentalas-
It is hardto understandwhyAlmeida does not referto pect ofLevi-Strauss'sthoughtand his greatcontribution
Levi-Strauss's(I954) article on mathematics,in which to anthropology.Levi-Strauss'srecognitionof entropy
Levi-Straussmakes manyof the same pointsas he does. calls forinvestigationof the local ratherthan the global
The articleincludes a descriptionof how Weil came to level. Perhaps because the mathematicaltools for de-
382 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3I, Number 4, August-October I990
scribingsymmetryposit global structures,Levi-Strauss raryepistemes.It may help to explainthe dogmaticstyle

uses mathematicsas a metaphorratherthan a source of adoptedthat,havingbeen writtenas an introductionto a
comprehensivetheory. series of lectures on The Elementary Structuresof
Kinship,The Savage Mind, and The JealousPotter,ac-
companiedby discussion of mathematics,painting,and
music (e.g.,how symmetryis used in Bach's Art of the
Reply Fugue or his Goldberg Variationsto suggestthat musi-
cal harmonyis indifferent to time's arrowwhile beauty
is not), its intentionwas to counteracta stereotyped
MAURO W. B. DE ALMEIDA readingofLevi-Straussand to allow studentsto readhim
Sao Paulo, Brazil. i i VI90 morefreely.This introductory charactershould explain
the absence of polemical cross-references. Thus thereis
Some of the commentatorsobject to my use of mathe- no detailed discussion of the parallels with Bateson,
maticsto understandLevi-Strauss'swork(Jorionand As- Piaget (accordingto Kronenfeldbetterusers of mathe-
saba, Arcand,Nash); othersquestion Levi-Strauss'sown matics than Levi-Strauss),Lewin, or Chomsky, all of
use of mathematics(Siemens,Kronenfeld). them influencedby the same structuralepisteme to
My use of it emergedfromrepeatedattemptsto make which Kenny alludes, or of the issue of parole, which
sense ofthe I 953 articleon social structure.The guiding would have led me back to Bakhtin,Propp,and Chay-
hypothesis,hintedat by Levi-Strausshimselfin the epi- anov as contrastivereferencesto Jakobson,or of Eisen-
graph,is that eitherhis notion of structureis nonsense stein'sideas on cinema. Music (serialism),cinema (mon-
or it is to be understoodmathematicallyand thenmakes tage),and painting(Cubism) may not afterall be foreign
completesense. Firstassessed in applicationto the I945 to linguisticstructuralism.Chayanov's theoryof a de-
articleon the "kinshipatom," this hypothesishas often velopmentcycle forfamilies anticipates the "develop-
proved a powerfulguidingprincipleforunderstanding mental" approachto the structuralanalysis of kinship.
and generalizingLevi-Strauss'sideas on kinship,totem- At the same time, there is perhaps a less sharp divide
ism,and myth.My use ofmathematicsmaybe criticized than is usually perceived between models and meta-
(as it has been by Nash, Siemens,and Jorionand Assaba) phors,a point recognizedby modem philosopherssuch
on the groundofbeingpointlessas appliedto essentially as Peirce and (the young) Wittgenstein,who linked
nonmathematicaltexts;it mighteven be said thatLevi- algebra with icons as bearers of a common structure.
Strauss's neglect of precise mathematicalformulations Nor did the formatadoptedallow formore concreteap-
may be rootedultimatelyin his own reservationsabout plicationsofthe methodsmentioned,such as groupthe-
the expressivepower of mathematics,a point well ex- oryor Markov chains in the area of kinship or lattices
pressed by Merleau-Ponty(I963) when he says that in and orderin thatofpreferences, voting,etc. I am grateful
mathematics"we take into account only the invariants to Klein for a beautiful example along these lines. A
ofthe structureunderstudy,not the contingentparticu- source of many other examples is of course Hage and
laritiesofa designor a figure.... But ... as in language, Harary(I983).
truthis not just adequation but anticipation,recovery, To include these references,discussions, and exam-
sliding of meaning, and is attained only at some dis- ples, however,would have led me astrayfrommy goal,
tance."'1I am also aware that,as Arcandand Nash put it, that of making an "introductorysummary"(as Arcand
Levi-Straussis part of a broader"group of transforma- has put it)-starting fromgeneralideas, proposingcer-
tions" thatencompassesmusic, cinema,painting,and so tain models forthem,and reexaminingtheirwider im-
on (self-reference, according to Hofstadter[I979], is a plications "guided by mathematical constructionand
featureofall these languages,includingmathematics;it abstraction" (WeylI952:4). I hopethatthiswillproveto
follows in a sense that if Levi-Straussis a demon, as have facilitatedfurthercomparisonand criticism(thisis
Nash says,he is in good company).My generalresponse of course no justificationfor the omission of Levi-
to these comments(and also to Jorionand Assaba's ad- Strauss's own articleon the mathematicsof the human
vice that we "ask him" and Kronenfeld'sconcernover sciences pointed to by Siemens). If I have framedthe
how to assess my article)is thatmyproposalsshould be articleas a mathematicalparaphraseratherthan,forin-
judgedin termsof the followingdidacticaims: Do they stance (as Arcand has suggested),a musical one, it is
help one to read Levi-Strauss's works as a coherent primarilybecause ofmy own idiosyncrasies,which may
whole? Do theypoint to ways which his ideas could be seem strangeonly fromthe modem biased viewpoint
furtherexplored? Do the specific models mentioned that mathematics is a specialist's job rather than a
have any heuristicvalue? source of aesthetic and intellectualpleasure similar to
Kenny suggeststhat my article is in fact about the music; it is also because the articleis an argumentfor
contemporarystructuralepisteme; if his assessment is dialogue between the intellectual traditionsof the hu-
correct,this should justifythe article,providedthatwe man,natural,and exact sciences. Palis's remarkssuggest
do not forgetthatthereare other,competingcontempo- thatI have somehow attainedthis objective.
Many technical details, especially on kinship and
i. I thankTerenceTurnerforbringingthisscholarintothediscus- myth,were providedin the originallecturesthat could
sion. not be included in this generalintroduction.In the case
of kinship,ratherthancommentin any detailon the joiningthe ends of the cylinderwithouttwistingwill

theory developedsincethesixties,inwhichLevi-Strauss producethetorus,whilecuttingandtwisting themwill
suggeststhecontinuity betweenmechanicaland statis- generate theKleinbottle.Ifwe imaginethatthecorners
tical models and elaboratesthe notionof houses, I of the rectangleare labeledwith two termsand two
merelystressed thathe has gradually abandoned hisear- functions, it is suggestiveto imaginethatpastingis
liercontrastbetweenlocalfeatures andglobalstructures equivalentto a metaphorwhile cutting,twisting, and
and betweensymmetry and disorder.In the case of pastingare equivalentto thetorsionthat,according to
myth,not even a sketchas broadas thiscouldbe in- Levi-Strauss,concludeseverysequence of mythical
cluded.Thismaybe onereasonforsomecommentators'operations.
assumption of"fuzziness"in Levi-Strauss's thought. In SinceJorion andAssabamentiontheconceptofsym-
an attemptto correctthis omissionto some degree,I metryas an exampleoftheinadequacyofmathematics
willsuggestsomeideason themetaphor ofcrystals with as a languageforanthropology, I wantto saya fewmore
indefiniteboundaries, includingan excerptfroman ear- wordson symmetry anddisorder. Whatis an elementary
lierversionofmyarticle. kinshipsystem? Myproposalis a systemthathas a cer-
A mythem is, so to speak,a bundleofmeanings.One tainkindofsymmetry. In it,whenwe selectan arbitrary
particular meaningmaybe thoughtof as a movement (maleadult)egoas the"originofcoordinates," thesocial
alongonedimension, forexample,thetechnology offire rules(expressed in thespacegenerated bymarriage and
(raw/cooked); anotherdimension mightbe relatedtothe filiation) remaininvariant.Such symmetries are,how-
contrast betweendifferent rawmaterials(animal,vege- ever,brokenbypower,privateproperty, sex,and so on.
table,and mineral).Justas "raw meat" and "cooked Rupture ofsymmetry canofcoursebe represented math-
clay"are thenpossiblepointsin theresulting spaceof ematically, and symmetries are so interesting because
possiblemeanings(inwhich"cookedvegetable"would whentheyarebrokenan explanation is in order.
be the place forcloth,say),a particular mythemis a SiemensrightlyobservesthatLevi-Strauss does not
pointin thespaceofmeaningful dimensions. Thisspace use themachinemetaphoras I do. Whilehe mentions
cannotbe limiteda prioriby any definitenumberof machines,as Siemensputsit,as cancellingdisorder, or-
dimensions; therefore it is convenient to takeit as hav- dercan itselfbe mostnaturally understood in termsof
inganinfinite number. Mythems maythenformcrystal- the machinemetaphor:machinesare,then,a linkbe-
like structuresin this infinite-dimensional discrete tweentheideasofsymmetry anddisorder, although one
space or symmetries (such that Levi-Strauss, having notexplicitly recognized byLevi-Strauss himself.
identified two or threepoints,"deduces"theexistence I thankPalis forsuggesting thatdynamicsystemsor
ofa fourth).Nothingrestricts us to "binary"oppositions chaos theorycouldhave been mentioned. Levi-Strauss
on each dimension(Levi-Strauss's own exampleabove, could not have realizedthatdeterministic ("mechani-
fromThe JealousPotter,should serve as a warning cal") systemsmaybehavein sucha wayas to makeit
againstanyfacilechargeof"Saussureanbinarism"). In impossibleto determine thefuture, contrary to theLa-
theMythologiques Levi-Strauss leadsthereaderthrough placeanworldview.Entropy is not,fromhisviewpoint,
certainsmallareasofthisinfinite-dimensional Boolean theonlywayofintroducing irreversibility. Nonlinearity
group, takinga particular mythas a starting point.As he and entropy are bothways of assertingthe passageof
stresses,any otherpointwould serveequallywell to time.Withnonlinearity we haveno capacityto foresee
explorethethousandsofconcretemythsthathavebeen thefuture(whichwaythesystemwill evolve):withen-
provisionally locatedwithinthisvirtualspace(inwhich, tropywe have no way ofreconstructing thepast.Both
therefore,one can use a "coordinate-free" method-one bringaboutchangesin time,eitherbyincreasing com-
concernedwith transformations frompoint to point plexity orbydecay.Itmightbe saidthattheformation of
ratherthanabsolutelocationsofpointsand (torespond "houses"is an exampleofa processthatincreasescom-
to Siemens'sremark) one whosegeometry is "affine." plexity,beingnonlinearand perhaps"chaotic"in na-
The semanticinfinite-dimensional cubethusoutlined ture.
neednotbe discrete. Whenit is considered as a continu-
ous "controlspace"ofperception, theproblemarisesof
passingfromthissensiblespaceto thediscretespaceof
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PETITOT, JEAN. I985. "Local/global: Sistemi di riferencia,"in
Enciclopedia Einaudi, vol. 4, pp. I I-89.
Institutions
In responseto concernsthatthedocumentary sources wish to preemptprivateor institutionalintentionsre-

relatingto thegrowthanddevelopment ofarchaeology gardingthe dispositionof documentarysources; it only
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AmericanArchaeology has establisheda Committee ments,suggestions,and informationon the location
on theHistoryofArchaeology. The chargeofthecom- and conditionof archivalsources-onthe historyof
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Symmetry and Entropy: Mathematical Metaphors in the Work of Levi-Strauss [and Comments

Models, Structures,and Machines

2. Jakobson is said to have observedthatlinguisticconceptswere

Structures the savage mind in general(i962b:esp. chap. 5). The al-

interestingand unexpectedillustrationsof the explana- The View fromAfar

ifnot a unique "form,"at least

24. "La disparition formulation(probably

groups-an invariancetheory-into anthropology, plac- PAUL JORION AND CLAUDE ASSABA

(appositional transformationoperators)reflectscross- DAVID B. KRONENFELD

groupsand machines is interestingand stimulating,but toryfueled by the very mythsLevi-Straussstudies, or

what superficial,if not altogetherpictorial or even writehis mathematicaltreatmentof kinshipstructures

scribingsymmetryposit global structures,Levi-Strauss raryepistemes.It may help to explainthe dogmaticstyle

of kinship,ratherthancommentin any detailon the joiningthe ends of the cylinderwithouttwistingwill

BENJAMIN, WALTER. I985. Magia e tecnica, arteepolitica: En- forpropositional/appositional

In responseto concernsthatthedocumentary sources wish to preemptprivateor institutionalintentionsre-

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