ANTHROPOLOGY, A NATURAL SCIENCE?

Science, broadly speaking, is the systematic investigation of observed phenomena. It is recognized that this investigation may be directed towards one of two distinct and opposable ends. It may be the aim of such investigation to discover and set out specific sequences, temporal or spatial, of objects or events. History and geography are scientific disciplines of this sort. They are sometimes called descriptive sciences. In fact all sciences are descriptive, but the events or objects of the historical-geographical sciences are described as they are encountered in time or space and each datum is unique and not subject to verification. The term natural science, on the other hand, is often reserved for scientific investigation which seeks to classify data and to reduce a wide range of observed phenomena to a brief statement or formula. This formula is termed a natural law. It is, of course, not a law at all as it compels nothing. It is merely a shorthand description of phenomena observed to recur. It is the processual counterpart of the generic concept.