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HISTORY AND SCIENCE IN ANTHROPOLOGY
Author(s) -
KROEBER A. L.
Publication year - 1935
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1935.37.4.02a00020
Subject(s) - citation , anthropology , history of science , history , sociology , library science , computer science , philosophy , epistemology
American Anthropologist NEW SERIES Vol. 37 OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1935 No.4 HISTORY AND SCIENCE IN ANTHROPOLOGY A RECENT presidential address by Mrs HoernIe1 deals largely and By A. L. KROEBER interestingly with the old question of laws and history in anthro pology, but seems to rest on an incomplete conception of certain currents of recent anthropological thought. Particularly is this true of the attitudes imputed to Boas; and this misunderstanding, if real, is certainly of im portance because of the outstanding position of Boas in contemporary anthropology. During the last forty years he has not only trained many of the American and some European ethnologists or social anthropologists active today, but certainly influenced all of them, at least in the United States. The question of his methodology is therefore much more than a personal one in its significance. On the other hand, individual elements in evitably do playa part; in fact it is probably ignorance of some of these that has led Mrs HoernIe to fail to realize the Boasian position in its entirety. If therefore the following remarks seem at times to savor of the personal, it is because I believe it to be necessary for full understanding. And if I take on myself the presumption to act as spokesman or interpreter for another, it is for three reasons. The first is that as the leading public character of anthropology Boas is in a position where even his individual attitudes are of public concern. Second, I have been trained and influenced by him. On the other hand, and third, my methodological views do not wholly coincide with his, and I have been criticized by him for them, and have replied; so that I believe I can speak at least with a certain detach ment. To begin with, it is of indubitable significance that Boas' educational training was in the physical laboratory sciences-in physics, in fact. This led him into psychophysics and physical geography: his doctoral disserta tion was on the color of sea water. 2 This in turn led to a one-man, two-year, I New Aims and Methods in Social Anthropology (South African Journal 01 Science, Vol. 1 Beitrlige zur Erkenntniss der Farbe