SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
THE PRESENT POSITION OF 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES. 
ADDRESS BY 
PROF. A. R. RADCLIFFE-BROWN, 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION, 
Ty this address which I have the honour to make to you as the president 
of this section, I shall lay before you certain considerations as to the present 
position of anthropological studies. It might perhaps be regarded as my 
duty to make a survey of the history of these studies and what has been 
accomplished in them during the hundred years over which we are now, 
as an Association, looking back. But this address had to be written 
‘during a journey from one side of the world to the other, so that it was 
not possible for me to have access to the necessary books. Moreover, as 
_ between looking back over the past and looking forward to the future, I 
_ have a temperamental preference for the latter. 
Anthropology, as that term is currently used, as for example in defining 
a university curriculum, is not one subject, but includes several somewhat 
related subjects while excluding others not less related. If we define 
_ anthropology as the science of man and of human life in all its aspects, 
_ then it is obvious that psychology, as the study of the human mind or 
_ human behaviour, must be included in anthropology between human 
biology, which deals with man’s physical organism, and social or cultural 
anthropology, which deals with his social life. Yet actually not only is 
psychology not commonly included in what is called anthropology, but 
there is very little systematic co-ordination between psychological and 
other anthropological studies. The reason for this lies in the history of 
_ psychology, which was first developed in close relation with, or indeed as 
_ part of, philosophy. It is only gradually that psychology has been 
_ differentiated from philosophical studies, and by adopting precise methods 
_ similar to the experimental methods of the natural sciences has established 
itself as an independent scientific discipline. It seems to me that the time 
_ is now ripe for psychology to sever its connection with the philosophical 
subjects of logic and metaphysic and bring itself into closer relation with 
anthropology. This is not merely a question of a logical arrangement of 
the sciences. Both psychology and the other anthropological sciences will 
benefit greatly by a more systematic co-ordination. 
_ Leaving aside psychology, then, we now find the general field of what 
is called anthropology divided into three separate portions. One of these 
