Abstract
Inasmuch as anthropology is a science, anthropologists are in need of distinguishing epistemology from ontology. The object of cognition of anthropologists is the dynamic process of regulation of the phenomena of life themselves, between man (organic and historic) and his environment (natural and cultural). Accordingly anthropologists must take precautions against historical realism which tends to treat an object as an absolute static reality. On the other hand, anthropologists can see that man is function of two variables, namely, human organism and culture, in contrast to "culturologists" who are apt to treat culture in its own terms. From this view-point, the author criticizes the scheme of cultural development offered by Steward. Steward's tendency to regard pattern or trait (on which Steward's scheme of cultural development is founded) as fixed realites, is criticized. In the author's opinion, culture in a broad sense must be divided into culture in a narrow sense, that is, irrational, emotional, and super-rational cultural goods (especially art, mythology etc.) on the one hand, and cosmopolitan, rational, logical and technological civilization goods on the other. Anatomically, "cortex" plays an essential role in producing civilization goods, while "thalamus" does as much for the production of cultural goods. The enormous expansion of surface of "cortex" in contrast to the reduction of "thalamus" is found in the process of development of the cerebrum. This shows anatomically the process in which civilization predominates over culture. Although Steward leaves out these elements which give uniqueness to the trait as being variable and secondary, those elements have to be regarded as the truly cultural ones. Thereupon, Steward's scheme is merely that of the development of civilization. Emotion is formed by primitive sensation which is produced while blood including hormones and other substances is flowing through the nuclear groups of the thalamus. Every race has different quantities of hormones. Therefore it is impossible to deny differences in the quality of emotions. Thus cultures in the narrow sense must be differed from each other according to racial differences, although such differences may be minimized with the development of the human cerebrum and human civilisation.
