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Structures, Realities, and Blind Spots
Author(s) -
Chaney Richard Paul
Publication year - 1978
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.1978.80.3.02a00040
Subject(s) - obstacle , blind spot , semantics (computer science) , epistemology , sociology , colored , linguistics , cognitive science , psychology , history , computer science , philosophy , anthropology , artificial intelligence , archaeology , programming language
In discussing the exchange between Caws and Hanson (AA, Vol. 78, 1976) the nature of the theory and reality that anthropologists must consider in dealing with social and cultural phenomena is examined. There is no objective structure in the phenomena we study, our constructs always being colored by changing conditions. The assumption of an unchanging human nature has long been an obstacle to progress in the anthropological enterprise . [semantics, language, models, structure, anthropological theory]