Different cultures develop from different environments

because: Environment can put limitation/restriction to development (Environmental determinism (2009) )
- because: Geographical factors may limit cultrual communication between societies.
  - because: The northern culture and southern culture are difficult to communicate.
- because: e.g. In some places, the environment is less suitable for crops to grow, therefore their development of agriculture may be restricted.
  - because: People's selection of habitats show their attitude towards life and living style, so the differences of choices mean different way of living.
- because: Social environment can restrict internal cultural communication and natural resources may limit some cultural activities.
  - Problem: If social environment means our society, then it may be a result of our culture
  - because: Because different natural environment, like food, water and weather makes different pace of human development, therefore it makes different social appearence.
because: the culture of a people depends on their environment
- because: if the culture does not match the environment, evolutionary forces will weaken or eliminate the culture (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2009) )
  - because: People grow up in their own environment,so they learn their own culture. And the development make them have own value to development well.
    - because: e.g Different tribes have different totemic culture because the diversity of wild animals and life styles due to the environmental differences.
  - but: There may also exist a possibality that the culture may help (or make) the people there change the environment. Environment does not remain unchanged.
    - Problem: But what we discusse is culture's origin.It is known that human, as well as culture appeared after nature,so about origin, culture was decided by environment.
    - because: People and environment are interdependent. People's lifestyle also change the geography such as climate and sea level.
- because: No matter the development of culture is in harmony with the environment or against the environment, the environment is the foundation
  - Cause: There are three very important factors having impact on cultural difference's factors,namely food production,sedentary living and the density of population. (Jared Diamond (1997) )
  - Cause: If the development of culture is against the environment, the inconsistency will reduce the speed of development of this culture
- because: Different environment can help to form differernt habits of life.
  - because: Different environment has different factors in so many things, people use and eat different things, and they may consider the same things in different ways.
    - because: Different crops suit different environments which helps form different food cultures.
  - because: Just like in northern China, corns harvest once a year while the rice in southern China can grow twice or three times a year.
- because: the culture of a people depends on their environment
  - Problem: the environment may affect their way of thinking.
  - but: So absolutely.Sometimes, other culture will change or derivative under other factors(such as labor, religions,etc). eg. Chinese words was invented in labor.
- because: environment is the mother of culture.it provides nutrition and guidance and condition for the development of culture.
  - because: For example, in China, northeastern people are more friendly and enthusiastic, because the weather there is colder and tougher.
- because: there is a one-to-one relation between environment and culture. environment provides the condition based on which a corresponding culture develops.
  - because: such as Hong Kong people
but: different environments cause biological differences among populations
- because: According to Darwin's theory of natural selection, a people's direction of revolution depends on the environment.
- because: people need to adapt to their environment to stay alive
  - Cause: e.g. Farmers may have relatively higher birth rates than hunters because famers had more stable and relaxed lives.
but: peoples' intelligence is also a factor (Rushton (1999) )
- Cause: To some extent, people's intelligence can be affected by the environment
  - but: People's intelligence may be different due to the different procedures in adapting to different environments
    - because: environment may direct the way in which intelligence develops.
    - because: such as new genius
- but: a good environment may help to develop people's intelligence by providing more nutrition and more time for them to think, discover and invent.
  - but: A more severe environment may stimulate the people there to become more creative so as to fight against the nature
    - but: in fact, environment in different places poses challenges to people living there. in some extremely bad environment, it is impossible for people to live.
    - because: Necessity is the mother of invention. In order to survive in the sever environment, people need to invent useful and helpful tools or technique to assist them.
- because: there is a relationship between intelligence and brain size
  - but: the ratio of brain weight to body weight correlates with intelligence, not pure brain size (Neuroscience and intelligence (2009) )
    - because: there is no evidence that environment causes differences in the ratio of brain weight to body size
- but: this is a racist argument
  - but: culture is different from race, so this is a culturalist argument, not a racist one
  - but: any relationship between race and intelligence is controversial (Race and intelligence (2009) )
- but: there is not enough evidence to show that people's intelligence is different when born.we can not judge a person's intelligence from how much does he/she know.
  - but: Sometimes, a racial(group of people) has its own characters. e.g.the Jews are considered very intelligent. In China, those Wenzhou merchant are very clever.
- but: Intelligence, which contains a number of branches, is totally shaped by different environments in different courses of development in different regions.
  - because: If the environment is the ultimate factor that influences cultures, it is incorrect to say that the "medium factor"- intelligence is one of the factors.
  - because: Different emphases on different branches of intelligence is intangibly made by different environments in which peoples worldwide live.
- but: A good environment in which life is easier, such as rich soil and mild climate can give people more time to think besides working for food.
  - but: how to define an environment as GOOD
  - but: If the environment is too pleasant, the opportunities for people to think may be eliminated which will affect the evolution of people
    - but: If concentration is limited to how to make a living, how would the development of literature, architecture like？
but: there can be disparate cultures in the same local environment (Merrett (2001) )
- because: Different species choose to change in different ways, all in the sense of adaption. This is the causation of different race or subspecies.
- because: there is a lack of communication and information exchange. They were avoided either on purpose or due to some natural barrier.
- because: e.g. a violent separatist group coexists with the egalitarian Mondragon Cooperative Corp. in the Basque region of Spain
- but: though they might have difference but they have the same tendency.
because: This arguement is in line with Darwin's theory of evolution. Different environments will cause people to adapt differently & a unique culture will emerge.
- Problem: Darwin's natural selection theory only concerns the evolution of species, rather than the evolution of cultures.
  - because: Different cultures came from the same species--human. There is nothing to do with natural selection.
    - but: In Darwin's theory, if two groups of the same species live in two seperate environment, they would become different or even have reproductive isolation.
      - Effect: Once there is reproductive isolation, they become two different species.
        Effect: Two groups of the same species living in different environment will lead to the difference of gene frequency. Physically difference leads to mentally difference
        because: Besides, different environment caused different living habits,.Many a little difference would make a significant difference, cultural difference.
because: agriculture started in places that were good for it
- because: e.g. plants and animals flourished in the Mediterranean and fertile crescent
  - Cause: they had a congenial climate and landscape there
    - Effect: plants, animals, and people spread out along the east-west axis of the Eurasian continent
- but: But the countries which now have the best agriculture condition are not those that developed agriculture first.
- because: Some places are lacking in big domestic animals or fit species of plants to develop agriculture.
- Effect: settlements turned into villages, which grew into chiefdoms with ruling classes and elites
  - Effect: political organization led to state governments and overseas conquests
    - because: e.g. the Spanish conquest of the Americas
      - Cause: guns, germs, and steel helped the Spanish triumphed
        but: the British conquest of India and the Dutch conquest of Java did not result from superior weapons or the spread of disease (www.history.ac.uk)
- Effect: wild plant and animal species became domesticated
  - Effect: Epidemic diseases transferred from animals to human beings
  - Effect: the diseases of domesticated animals strengthened people's immune systems
  - Effect: food production rose
    - Effect: features of complex societies emerged
      - because: e.g. writing enabled administrative control and military success
    - Effect: populations increased
      - Effect: Writing,technology,germs,government or religions would develop to another level.
      - because: demands increase which need the improve of technology
    - Cause: the division of labor generated food surpluses
      - Effect: people began to live in a certain place instead of moving continuously
        Effect: agricultural will emerge which in turn raise the productivity.
        Cause: Different environment, agriculture and different culture are causes and effects in chain.
- Problem: But agriculture may not lead to cultural differences
  - but: e.g. In hunter-gatherer society, people may appreciate strength, while in farming society people may appreciate working hard. Thus, cultural differences formed.
  - because: We cannot omit other factors' influence such as climate, landform and location. At least we should consider the influences from other cultures.
    - because: As culture is regional, countries that are closely situated to each other may develop similar cultures as there are people traveling among these countries.
because: The environment includes the location,weather, the direction of the continent, which can affecet the living habit and agriculture, which are the foundation
- because: The environment also influences the communication between different cultures which contributes to the development of a culture
- because: The agriculture is the first step of the development of human being, the environment also affect the spread of different cluture, which can speed up the develop
because: Definitely, surroundings have crucial influence on our religion, custom and living style, every aspect of our daily life, which create an unique culture.
because: Definitely, surroundings have crucial influence on our religion, custom and living style, every aspect of our daily life, which creates an unique culture.
because: The culture in a certain region is the embodiment of the inhabitants' values with each other person and values of the world. The environment shapes these two.
- because: The environment includes geographical locations, peoples nearby, natural resources, climate.
because: different natural environments produce differences in social structure
- but: social structures generally develop in similar direction.
- because: e.g. aboriginal Australians remained hunter/ gatherers
  - but: They are perfect hunters and enjoy the hunting process. (www.cnread.net)
  - because: their land was dry and infertile
    - but: Australia is not dry
      - because: Cairns gets over 2 meters of rain per year (Wikipedia (2009). Climate of Australia. Section: Queensland)
      - because: only 44% of Australia is desert (Wikipedia - Climate of Australia. Section: Central Arid Region)
    - but: Australia is not infertile, it is now a major exporter of agricultural products (Wikipedia. Australian Economy, para. 5)
      - because: Australia has its own advantage in agriculture and not all its land is dry.

Climate of Australia. (2009, March 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:29, March 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Climate_of_Australia&oldid=274885299 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Australia#Central_arid_region)

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. (2009, March 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:19, March 11, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_(book))

Economy of Australia. (2009, March 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:24, March 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economy_of_Australia&oldid=274873626 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_economy)

Environmental determinism. (2009, March 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:25, April 25, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Environmental_determinism&oldid=277472016 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_determinism)

Merrett, C. D. (2001). "Understanding local responses to globalisation: The production of geographical scale and political identity." National Identities 3: 69-87.

Neuroscience and intelligence. (2009, March 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:15, March 19, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neuroscience_and_intelligence&oldid=277746734 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_and_intelligence#Brain_size)

Race and intelligence. (2009, March 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:21, March 19, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Race_and_intelligence&oldid=278099033 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence)

Rushton, J.P. (1999). "Guns, germs, and steel: The fates of human societies." Population and Environment. Vol. 21, Iss. 1, p.99. Sept.