Zeitlyn2009
| Zeitlyn2009 | |
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| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Zeitlyn2009 |
| Author(s) | David Zeitlyn |
| Title | Understanding anthropological understanding: for a merological anthropology |
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| Tag(s) | empirical responsibility, merology, partiality, postmodernism, practical adequacy, realism, relativism |
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| Year | 2009 |
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| Journal | Anthropological Theory |
| Volume | 9 |
| Number | 2 |
| Pages | 209–231 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1177/1463499609103550 |
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Abstract
In this article 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 postmodernism 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 criticized. 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.
Notes
