Collins, Hirschauer and Winch: Ethnography, Exoticism, Surgery, Antisepsis and Dehorsification.

The article focuses on views of sociologists Harry Collins, Stefan Hirschauer and Peter Winch on ethnography, exoticism, surgery, antisepsis and de-horsification. For Collins, ethnography involves a relationship between two internal states, the observer's subjective understanding of exotic beliefs and practices, and actual experience of members of the group studied. Scientific frame of mind requires an orientation to something outside oneself. Collins may be hanging his vision of social science on a logical frame that is ill-suited to comprehending radically different epistemic activities on and beyond science. Hirschauer's ethnography differs profoundly from the traditional image of confrontation between a scientific observer and members of a primitive culture.