Zeitlyn, David (2009) Understanding Anthropological Understanding: for a merological anthropology. Anthropological Theory, 9 (2). pp. 209-231. ISSN eISSN: 1741-2641 ISSN: 1463-4996.
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| Official URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1463499609103550 |
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Abstract
In this paper I argue for a merological anthropology in which ideas of ‘partiality’ and ‘practical adequacy’ provide a way out of the impasse of relativism which is implied by post-modernism and the related abandonment of a concern with ‘truth’. Ideas such as ‘aptness’ and ‘faithfulness’ enable us to re-establish empirical foundations without having to espouse a simple realism which has been rightly criticised. Ideas taken from ethnomethodology, particularly the way we bootstrap from ‘practical adequacy’ to ‘warrants for confidence’ point to a merological anthropology in which we recognize that we do not and cannot know everything, but that we can have reasons for being confident in the little we know.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled keywords: | Merology/ empirical responsibility/ relativism/ realism/ postmodernism/ ethnomethodology/ partiality / practical adequacy / |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology |
| Divisions: | Faculties > Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > Social and Cultural Anthropology |
| Depositing User: | D. Zeitlyn |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Nov 2009 12:33 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Dec 2012 00:05 |
| Resource URI: | http://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/20300 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes) |
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