Anthropologists at War

A short article in the NY Times of Dec. 9th (Anthropology a Science?) recalls John Tierney's book Darkness in El Dorado and the uproar and controversy it sparked. Here is a review of Darkness in El Dorado from 2000. And Douglas Hume's information clearinghouse page is essential. This entire debate takes place at the extremely interesting interface between the "sciences" and the "humanities." As always it's at the boundaries where the most important issues arise. A really close study of this controversy would be well worth the time and effort. Anyone with an interest in Jung's work, and depth psychology in general, would find many of the same puzzles and controversies played out here. One could, of course, trace the roots of this methodological and hermeneutic conflict starting probably with Plato, running through Galileo's troubles with the Church and continuing up through Heidegger and right into the postmodernists as the Dec. 9th article suggests. And many  people have already done so. But the questions are still alive for me. An example: why does Heidegger get to ignore Darwin? I have my own answers, but the questions remain. The issues are important and won't be going away any time soon. Archetypal, probably.