Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

80 Scientism and' Values
4. I have been asked for "proof" of this statement. By the request, I take
it, what is intended is "empirical evidence" obtained as follows: Take
at least twenty freshmen (women will do, if men are not available, and
upper classmen even; in extremis) professors, if their services can be
enlisted) and divide them into two groups, one for control. Destroy the
sel£.respect of one of the groups and observe results. The statement is
taken as a "hypothesis" which, if "confirmed," becomes a "law." Will the
law apply to Hindoos in Trinidad, B.W.I.? This calls for "field work,"
which first involves a "foundation grant" leading to a little junket in
the Caribbean. Alas, I do not have this kind of evidence, and what com..
pounds the felony, I do not have much faith in this way of getting it.
The "proof" by which I back the statement is a number of years of ob..
servation of my fellow beings and speculation concerning the nature of
the good life. This, I know, is a most disreputable admission for a
scholar to make, and I make it in shame, for it puts me (allowing for
obvious differences in stature) with men like Plato, Aristotle, Montaigne,
Kant and Hume-yes, even Hume, for consider the nature of the evi·
dence he offers in Section II of his Enquiry Concerning the Principles
of Morals-and Veblen. A shameful group of men to be with, who make
statements of an empirical nature without having taken twenty freshmen,
etc.
5. Ruth L. Monroe, Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought) an Exposition,
Critique, and Attempt at Integration (New York, 1955).
6. Radcliffe-Brown's statement is quoted by A. C. Haddon, History of An·
thropology (London, 1934), p. 123.
7. Ralph Linton, The Study of Man, an Introduction (New York, 1946),
p. vii.
8. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun, H istoria general de las cosas de Nueva
Espana, (Mexico, D. F., 1938), I, xiv-xvi. The writer of the "Nota Preliminar"
to the Historia general, Wigberto Jimenez Moreno, concludes
his discussion of Sahagun's method in the following manner: "Sahagun
followed, without knowing, the most rigorous and demanding method
of the anthropological sciences." And he refers to two other writers that
have studied Sahagun from this point of view. I once heard the distinguished
philosopher, the late Joaquin Xirau, make the same point
about Sahagun.
9. Redfield's article was published in The Chicago Review) Vol. VIII, No.3
(1954), pp. 35-43. I shall refer to it below in another connection. I want
to use this opportunity to express my deep sense of grief: as I was
revising these notes his death occurred. American anthropology suffers
irreparable loss.
As I was engaged in the revision of this paper a review came to my
attention that ought to be read by those interested in the subject of
scientism and the studies of man. Entitled "The Proper Study of Mankind,"
it appeared in The (London) Times Literary Supplement, No.2
946, 57th year (August 15, 1958), pp. 453-454. See also Abraham Maslow,
Personality and Motivation (New York, 1954) and a paper to be pub..
lished in the Journal of Genetic Psychology entitled "The Cognition of