Response to Ferguson
N Chagnon - American Ethnologist, 1989 - JSTOR
American Ethnologist, 1989•JSTOR
Most of the problems with my Science paper (Chagnon 1988a) R. Brian Ferguson seems to
present as his critical discoveries are basically rewordings of what I myself laid out in that
paper as im-portant empirical and/or theoretical questions. Since I myself identified them, I
can only agree at the outset that they are important questions. I am, however, puzzled about
the significance of some of his additional observations, or why he even phrases them as
criticisms.'I think his critique has an importance that might be unintended: it reveals key …
present as his critical discoveries are basically rewordings of what I myself laid out in that
paper as im-portant empirical and/or theoretical questions. Since I myself identified them, I
can only agree at the outset that they are important questions. I am, however, puzzled about
the significance of some of his additional observations, or why he even phrases them as
criticisms.'I think his critique has an importance that might be unintended: it reveals key …
Most of the problems with my Science paper (Chagnon 1988a) R. Brian Ferguson seems to present as his critical discoveries are basically rewordings of what I myself laid out in that paper as im-portant empirical and/or theoretical questions. Since I myself identified them, I can only agree at the outset that they are important questions. I am, however, puzzled about the significance of some of his additional observations, or why he even phrases them as criticisms.'
I think his critique has an importance that might be unintended: it reveals key issues on which the cultural-materialist approach seemingly differs from a Darwinian approach. It is important to make these explicit to avoid future misunderstandings and confusions. Let me attempt to provide clarifi-cation on a few of the more important empirical and theoretical questions.
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