Integral Anthropology : Selected Anthropological Writings of J.V. Ferreira
Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Selected anthropological writings of J.V. Ferreira: 1. Towards a philosophy of integralism. 2. Ethnology and history. 3. Totemism finitude complementarity and dependence. 4. The nature of applied anthropology. 5. Towards integral man through integral anthropology. 6. Integral anthropology and the principle of proportionality. 7. Finitude, complementarity and dependence in primitive societies. 8. Anthropology and history. 9. Anthropology philosophy and India. 10. An anthropologist looks at human settlements in India. 11. Patrick Geddess integral vision of nature, life and society. 12. The sociology of Werner pelz. 13. The anthropology of unified awareness. 14. The Frankfurt school of critical theory. 15. The methodological dispute in anthropology and sociology. Select bibliography of J.V. Ferreira. Index.
John Vincent Ferreira's 1922-2010 most important contribution to the theory of anthropology is his exposition of Integral Anthropology as philosophical anthropology. He wanted anthropology to be a vehicle for understanding man in his fullness and with his various levels of mental activities in art, religion and philosophy.
He wanted anthropologists to avoid the pitfalls of scientism and reductionism the fallacy of reducing man for the sake of scientific convenience and simplicity to something less than he is by taking into consideration all his commanding mental artistic and spiritual capacities to fashion his culture and give it a personal and creative stamp. He lived at a time when scientism and reductionism dominated the social sciences and so he often had to move against the academic tide of his time.
Much of the barrenness and monotonous sterility of a great deal of modern scientific writing is doubtless due to the fact that the modern world has cultivated the specialist. A real scholar is one who reads across the disciplines. He knows that minor modifications and basic shifts in the scientific dogmas will affect the whole field of human knowledge. Dr. Ferreira was such a scholar. (jacket)
