Paradigms of anthropology as causes of taxonomic controversies

Abstract

The thesis of the paper is that the paradigms espoused by scholars affect their taxonomic decisions, which points to a philosophical source of such controversies. The paradigms the author discusses as holding in anthropology, at various times, include: (1) the “fixity-of-species” paradigm, (2) the “Asian roots” paradigm, (3) the “encephalization” paradigm, and (4) the “mid-Tertiary” paradigm.