engleski

Integration of Different Description/Explanation Levels in Anthropology: A Test Case

The widening gap between "the two cultures" (C.P. Snow) is nowhere so palpable as in the vanishing science of anthropology. The consequence of unresolved methodological disputes and rival priority claims is the actual division between anthropology's research programs, subject matters, and – as the final act of a drama – its institutions. Even for those advocating a "holistic" approach to the human species it becomes ever more difficult to recognize the ties connecting Social and Cultural Anthropology – let alone the "postmodern" Cultural Studies – with the discipline's scientific core embodied in Physical and Evolutionary Anthropology. However, the story of a happy divorce of sub-disciplines within anthropology has all the elements of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The tendency towards methodological double standards is ever more prevalent because it is treated as inevitable, and it is seen as inevitable because it is so widespread. The phenomenon deserves a closer inspection. Although the reconstruction of anthropology's recent past facilitates the understanding of its present state and the assessment/influence of its future development, we find it more promising to look at the actual research practices. To this effect, we will shortly present the scientific and educational profile of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia (www.inantro.hr) , and – as a sort of a test case – one of its research projects: Population Structure of Croatia - Anthropocybernetic Models. Our aim is to show the complexity of anthropological phenomena involving different description/explanation levels – subpersonal (neurophisiological), personal (cognitive/affective), social (population-level) – and different research tools. Bearing this complexity in mind, we want to evaluate the prospects for integrating different perspectives – on methodologically sound grounds – into a uniqe picture. We will also try to detect some of the constraints and shortcomings of such an integrating enterprise. As we will point out, one of the most important constraints has to do with anthropologist's inability to do "pure science", independent of extra-scientific values. We hope that our test case will contribute to the clarification of some of the most pressing issues in philosophy and sociology of science.

anthropology; philosophy of science; explanation models; description level;

nije evidentirano