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ETHNOGRAPHYOFHISTORICALTHOUGHTANDETHNOGRAPHICNOTES|
13
Itcanbeconcludedthatinplaceofthephilosophyproposedby
Wrzosek,Iintroduceanempiricalphilosophy–culturalanthropology.
ThedivisionproposedbyWrzosekplaysanimportantroleinthis
monograph.IuseitdespitethepolemicswiththeauthorandsoIhave
decidedtoexplainithere.Iadmitthattheethnographyofhistorical
thoughthasa(problem)withalldivisionsandtypologies.Itisnoteasy
tograsp(common)patternsinaworldthatisafairofprofounddiversity,
andwherediversityisalsoafeatureofculturalwholes.Whenplunging
intothisthicketofdissimilarities,wearenotconfrontedwithanor-
deredworld,butwitha(chaos)ofdifferencesandsimilarities,whichwe
cannotignore.Leavingdissimilaritynotonlyimpoverishesthestateof
ourknowledge,butalsocausesabiasintheoreticalquestionsthatwill
andcanbeasked,aspointedoutbyFredricBarth.14
Whendissimilaritiesareconsideredtobethepropertyofhuman
ideasandactions,theworstthingwecandoistogetoverthisand
riseabovethem,drawingtheboundariesfromabird)seyeview.Itreat
Wrzosek)sdivisionasadivisionthatconcernsonlythevariantsofcon-
temporaryhistoriographythatcometothefore,andnotitsgeneralcon-
dition.Whilepreservingtheconceptsthatconstitutethisdivision,Isee
themnotasdefiniteconcepts,butassensitisingconcepts,similarlyto
theotherlargeissuesanalysedinthismonograph.AsHerbertBlumer
writes:
Adefiniteconceptreferspreciselytowhatiscommontoaclassofobjects,
bytheaidofacleardefinitionintermsofattributesorfixedbenchmarks.
Thisdefinition,orthebenchmarks,serveasameansofclearlyidentifying
theindividualinstanceoftheclassandthemake-upofthatinstancethat
iscoveredbytheconcept.Asensitizingconceptlackssuchspecificationof
attributesorbenchmarksandconsequentlyitdoesnotenabletheuserto
movedirectlytotheinstanceanditsrelevantcontent.Instead,itgivesthe
userageneralsenseofreferenceandguidanceinapproachingempirical
14F
.Barth,(TowardaRicherDescriptionandAnalysisofCulturalPhenomena),
inR.G.FoxandJ.King(eds.),AnthropologybeyondCulture,Oxford2002,p.29.
