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EMBL
Forum |
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Past Seminars 2004 |
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| 20 February
2004 |
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Anthropology and the Natural Sciences From subatomic to global systems |
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Jonathan Friedman, Lund University and EHESS [GTMS]
Throughout
this century there has been a rather interesting series of
exchanges between anthropology and the natural sciences. Part
of this is related to the structure of the discipline in the
United States where physical anthropology, today human biology,
was part of a general curriculum along with related subjects
such as paleontology, prehistoric archaeology, and even linguistics
and cognitive anthropology which had connections to neurology,
cognitive science and related subjets. This interest was also
present in Europe, of course, and the efforts that led to
the initiating of the Centre Royaumont Pour Une Science de
l'Homme was an important landmark in the cooperation between
biological and social sciences. In the Eighties all of this
faded or even turned into conflict. The so-called 'cultural
turn', the disinterest in theory and the suspicion of natural
sciences became rampant in the United States, and the natural
science oriented sections within anthropology departments
became increasingly enamored of sociobiology and what some
would call genetic reductionism. Human biology was strongly
influenced in this period by the emerging field of evolutionary
psychology and other genetically oriented approaches. Departments
became factionalized in many places between the 'cultural/humanists'
and the 'scientists' and instead of dialogue there was war
in which tribal identities were more important than understanding
and knowledge. With a certain amount of variability the human
biologists, cognitivists, and archaeologists tend to group
themselves in the science camp, leaving the increasingly postmodernizing
cultural and social anthropologists in the humanist camp.
The situation today has not improved a great deal and it is
a great loss for all involved.
In this presentation I shall try to outline the social and cultural changes involved in this rift which are linked to massive changes in the global system, as well as taking up a selection of issues that I think can be used to remedy the current situation. These issues include questions concerning the interface between social and biological processes, what certain natural scientists, Jacob, Prigogine, Goodwin and others have proposed that bridge some of these unnecessary rifts. |
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