THE HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY 473 



thropological thought were those of law and religion. But it was 

 not long before ethics, aesthetics, literature, and philosophy in gen- 

 eral were led to accept the evolutionary standpoint in the particu- 

 lar form given to it by the early anthropologists. 



The generalized view of the evolution of culture in all its dif- 

 ferent phases, which is the final result of this method, may be sub- 

 jected to a further analysis regarding the psychic causes which 

 bring about the regular sequence of the stages of culture. Owing 

 to the abstract form of the results, this analysis must be deduc- 

 tive. It cannot be an induction from empirical psychological data. 

 In this fact lies one of the weaknesses of the method which led a 

 number of anthropologists to a somewhat different statement of 

 the problem. 1 mention here particularly Adolf Bastian and Georg 

 Gerland. Both were impressed by the sameness of the fundamen- 

 tal traits of culture the world over. Bastian saw in their same- 

 ness an effect of the sameness of the human mind, and terms 

 these fundamental traits Elementargedanken, declining all further 

 consideration of their origin, since an inductive treatment of this 

 problem is impossible. For him the essential problem of anthro- 

 pology is the discovery of the elementary ideas, and, in further 

 pursuit of the inquiry, their modification under the influence of 

 geographical environment. Gerland's views agree with those of 

 Bastian in the emphasis laid upon the influence of geographical 

 environment on the forms of culture. In place of the mystic ele- 

 mentary idea of Bastian, Gerland assumes that the elements found 

 in many remote parts of the world are a common inheritance from 

 an early stage of cultural development. It will be seen that in both 

 these views the system of evolution plays a secondary part only, 

 and that the main stress is laid on the causes which bring about 

 modifications of the fundamental and identical traits. There is a 

 close connection between this direction of anthropology and the 

 old geographical school. Here the psychic and environmental 

 relations remain amenable to inductive treatment, while, on the 

 other hand, the fundamental hypotheses exclude the origin of 

 the common traits from further investigation. 



The subjective valuation which is characteristic of most evolu- 

 tionary system was from the very beginning part and parcel of 

 evolutionary anthropology. It is but natural that, in the study of 

 the history of culture, our own civilization should become the stand- 

 ard, that the achievements of other times and other races should 

 be measured by our own achievements. In no case is it more 

 difficult to lay aside the Culturbrille to use von den Steinen's 

 apt term than in viewing our own culture. For this reason the 

 literature of anthropology abounds in attempts to define a num- 

 ber of stages of culture leading from simple forms to the present 



