Gellner's Structural-Functional-Culturalism

Abstract

Enlightenment traditions celebrating the individual & knowledge that is universally valid are only one stream in the social philosophy of Ernest Gellner. As a philosopher, he vehemently rejected Wittgensteinian relativism. As a social anthropologist, he prioritized the study of 'structure' & 'function,' rather than cultural 'costume.' Yet his theory of nationalism relies on a concept of culture that I suggest derives ultimately from the Herderian countercurrent to enlightenment universalism. This notion of culture has a surprising affinity with the world view of Clifford Geertz. The paper argues that such holistic notions of 'a culture' are unconvincing anthropologically, increasingly unrealistic sociologically, & antiliberal politically.