mentifact

English

Noun

mentifact (plural mentifacts)

  1. A shared idea, value, or belief of a culture that influences how individuals perceive the world around them. This includes intangible aspects of the culture, such as language, religion, and philosophy.
    • 1953, Irwin Taylor Sanders, editor, Societies Around the World, volume 1: Eskimo, Navajo, Baganda, Dryden Press, page 15:
      The Golden Rule, for example, is a mentifact in American culture today.
    • 1994 January 1, Peter E. Rider, Studies in history and museums, University of Ottawa Press, page 85:
      Mentifacts and replicas, including other surrogates like holograms, were accepted as apt substitutes for artifacts because they, too, demonstrate and may even exceed artifacts in revealing culture.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.