Understanding Anthropological Understanding: for a merological anthropology

Journal article

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.

Authors: Zeitlyn, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Anthropological Theory
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 209-231
• Publication date: 2009-01-01
• DOI: 10.1177/1463499609103550
• EISSN: 1741-2641
• ISSN: 1463-4996
• Keywords: partiality; realism; adequacy; postmodernism; ethnomethodology; Merology; empirical responsibility; relativism; practical
• Subjects: Anthropology