Action Quote by Leonard Bloomfield
“If it were possible to transfer the methods of physical or of biological science directly to the study of man, the transfer would long ago have been made ... We have failed not for lack of hypotheses which equate man with the rest of the universe, but for lack of a hypothesis (short of animism) which provides for the peculiar divergence of man ... Let me now state my belief that the peculiar factor in man which forbids our explaining his actions upon the ordinary plane of biology is a highly specialized and unstable biological complex, and that this factor is none other than language.”
About This Quote
Language uniquely separates humans from purely biological explanations.
In simple terms: Science alone can't explain human behavior; language does.
Key Takeaway
Study language to grasp human uniqueness.
Themes
language
human nature
biology
philosophy
Mood
analytical
inquisitive
Type
Action:0
Animism:0
Belief:0
Biological science:0
Biology:0
Complexes:0
Divergence:0
Education:0
Explaining:0
Factors:0
Has beens:0
Hypothesis:0
Ifs:0
Language:1
Let me:0
Long:0
Long ago:0
Made:0
Men:0
Method:0
Ordinary:0
Peculiar:0
Planes:0
Science:0
States:0
Study:0
Transfers:0
Universe:0
Unstable:0
Divergence Man:0
Lack Hypotheses:0
Lack Hypothesis:0
Peculiar Divergence:0
Belief Peculiar:0
When to use this quote
- anthropology class
- AI language modeling
- cross‑cultural study
Key Concepts
cognition
communication
cultural evolution
Questions to Reflect On
- What other traits distinguish humans?
- Can language be fully reduced to biology?
A Different Perspective
Language may be just one factor.
![“Professor Eddington has recently remarked that 'The law that entropy always increases - the second law of thermodynamics - holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of nature'. It is not a little instructive that so similar a law [the fundamental theorem of natural selection] should hold…” quote by Ronald Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ba5/ronald-fisher-14852_biological-science_professor-eddington-has-recently-remarke_3010389.jpg)
