ABSTRACT
Almost a century ago, E. B. Tylor in the opening chapter of his classic work Primitive Culture, argued for the creation of a naturalistic and autonomous science of culture. During the intervening years a number of other writers—more or less echoing Tylor’s plea— have attempted to set forth the case for the superorganic view of culture (e.g., Durkheim, Kroeber, Murdock, Lowie, White); which in turn has provoked a variety of rebuttals from the opposing camp (e.g., Sapir, Goldenweiser, Spiro, Bidney, among others). Indeed, few theoretical issues in anthropology have been pernennially debated with quite the fervor that has been generated by this one.
