Professional Ethics and Anthropology

Abstract

The principle of holism in American anthropology represents a powerful tradition in the discipline. Briefly stated, holism provides a theoretical paradigm whereby the different formal sub-fields of anthropology-cultural anthropology, archaeology, physical anth ropology and linguistics-are unified into a single area of knowledge known as Anthropology. Among the broadest of disciplines, Anth ropology has been characterized as the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences. As a profession holistic anthropology is represented by a myriad different associations, including the American Anthropological Associa tion, the Society of Professional Archaeologists, the American Associa tion of Physical Anthropologists, the Society of American Archaeology, the American Ethnological Association, the American Folklore Society, the Society for Applied Anthropology, and most recently, the National Association of Practicing Anthropologists. A recent reorganization of the umbrella professional association, the American Anthropological Association (AAA), in 1984 yielded five new units (representing versions of the above sub-fields with the addition of a new sub-field, the Practice of Anthropology) and nine affiliated societies. Notably two of the larger and more long-lived of the allied professional associations, the Society of American Archaeology and the Society for Applied Anthropology, declined to join the reorganized AAA. Anthropology is not unique in its disciplinary breadth among the physical sciences, social sciences or humanities, but it may be unusual for its particular 20th century American history dominated by Franz Boas and his students who stressed the unity of the field both as a body of knowledge and as a profession. While Boas' holistic view of the discipline may still be standard in the teaching of anthropology, it faces increasing difficulties as an ideology in practice. Like other broadly defined professions, such as those represented by the American