“Perhaps generations of students of human evolution, including myself, have been flailing about in the dark; that our data base is too sparse, too slippery, for it to be able to mold our theories. Rather the theories are more statements about us and ideology than about the past. Paleontology reveals more about how humans view themselves than it does about how humans came about, but that is heresy.” HumansDoeHas BeensAblePastDarkViewsGenerationsStudentsTheoryEvolutionIncludingStatementsIdeologyDataMoldHeresySlipperyHuman EvolutionPaleontologyFlailing Author:David Pilbeam
“Its [the anthropological method] power to make us understand the roots from which our civilization has sprung, that it impresses us with the relative value of all forms of culture, and thus serves as a check to an exaggerated valuation of the standpoint of our own period, which we are only too liable to consider the ultimate goal of human evolution, thus depriving ourselves of the benefits to be gained from the teachings of other cultures and hindering an objective criticism of our own work.” HumansFormValuesCultureGoalTeachingEvolutionPeriodsCivilizationBenefitsRootsCriticismUltimateMethodChecksObjectivesRelativeImpressStandpointExaggeratedLiableUltimate GoalOther CulturesSprungHuman EvolutionValuationDeprivingRelative Value Author:Franz Boas