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Epistle to the Anthropologists 1
Author(s) -
JARVIE I. C.
Publication year - 1975
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.1975.77.2.02a00010
Subject(s) - positivism , metaphysics , epistemology , sociology , set (abstract data type) , philosophical anthropology , critical theory , philosophy , computer science , programming language
Lack of theoretical progress, among other things, indicates a genuine intellectual crisis in anthropology. Previously, the author advocated a more consciously critical and falsificationist set of methodological rules as a remedy. Fabian has shown that this is not sufficient. He argues that there is an uncritical positivism built‐in to anthropology, which leads to ontological, epistemological, and moral error. Metaphysics as well as method needs rectification. The paper urges doing this by rebuilding links to the broad philosophical concerns out of which anthropological theory grew.