ABSTRACT
In order to understand the symbolic process it is essential to analyze representation as a behavioral activity. Most symbol analysts rely quite heavily on the redundancy of symbols and symbol meanings, expressed through their metaphoric or metonymic movement from symbol to symbol, or by means of frequent occurence in structural association with certain other symbols or symbol meanings. Symbols come into use through the operation of analogy. Recognition and utilization of analogy came to be combined with rationality, with the result that the human race moved away from the simplicity of cause-effect reasoning that heretofore had characterized hominids, and continues to characterize other mammals. The study of the history of symbolism as reflected in what the archaeological record reveals, in observed change, and as recoverable from written documents, is the key to the study of culture—of what makes human beings human.
