Interpretatívna etnografia a teoretická antropológia: (Preložil M. Kanovský.)

Dan Sperber

Language: slo

The author of the study deals with the scientific roles, aims and methods of the anthropology and ethnography. He pays attention to the „interpretation"and „description" and exemplifies validity of both in their using as ethnographic methods. He stresses the necessarity of using of descriptive commentaries which would support the empiric relevance of interpretations. He distinguishes the „object" and its „representation" _ and argues that scientific description is more adequate representation than the interpretation, because it is quite impossible to corroborate or verify it. Thus interpretation has only epistemologic value and it could not serve as a valid source of „objective" facts. On the end the author defines both the roles of anthropology and ethnography. The aim the anthropology is to explain the cultural representations, which means to explain the factors which order the selection of certain representations and their spreading in the social community. The ethnography, on the other hand, should not produce the interpretative generalizations but try to understand the life-experience of the social community or individuals and then try to find the most adequate way how to intermediate this understanding or how to make it intelligible for us. Key words: ethnography, anthropology