Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind · chapter 8 · id sapiens-c8-03-biology-enables-culture-forbid
“'Biology enables, culture forbids' -- if something occurs in nature, it cannot be called 'unnatural.' Biology defines what is possible; culture restricts from those possibilities.”
TRUE, BUTconfidence: medium⚠ extracted by pipeline, re-audit pending
Receipts
Keller (2010), The Mirage of a Space Between Nature and Nurture, Duke UPDOI registry: valid
The biology/culture distinction is itself too clean. Gene-culture coevolution means biology and culture are not independent variables -- culture changes biology (lactose tolerance, altitude adaptation) and biology shapes culture.
Searle (1995), The Construction of Social Reality, Free PressFLAGGED: DOI not in registry
The nature/culture divide is a philosophical distinction with a long history. Institutional facts are neither purely biological nor purely cultural -- they emerge from the interaction of natural capacities with social agreement.
This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us. Corrections are loud here.