4 INTRODUCTION. 



knowledge of human nature (Anthropology) are identical, since 

 God, according to this theory, can have no other attributes 

 than those which present themselves in the history of the 

 mental development of man as purely human attributes, acting, 

 at the same time, as divine powers in the history of civilization. 

 We thus perceive the striking contrast between these three 

 conceptions relating to the human being ; for the first places 

 man altogether in nature ; the second does so in part ; the 

 third places him entirely above nature. 



In this conflict of opinion one side of which humbles the 

 self-esteem of man as much as another flatters him and 

 considering the intrinsic interest of the subject, one might 

 expect anthropology to be an industriously cultivated field, and 

 that especially the faculties of those who assign to man so 

 peculiarly sublime a position, not merely upon the earth, but 

 in the whole universe, should be zealously directed to it. Yet 

 such is not the case. In Germany it is at present a common 

 case, that in the fields of various sciences, and even within the 

 same science, opposite theories grow up, without their respec- 

 tive propounders taking any notice of each other, or even en- 

 deavouring to consolidate their doctrines. The strength of party 

 supplies the strength of argument; the trouble of giving 

 scientific proofs seems unnecessary where such value is attached 

 to the judgment of those who, by agreeing in some funda- 

 mental points, represent each other with the instinctive force 

 of an esprit de corps. With the same kind of tact, all that 

 has grown upon a foreign stock is silently passed over or 

 eliminated, whilst that which seems homogeneous is assimi- 

 lated; and thus scientific life moves in individual separate 

 small spheres, whilst the more comprehensive and fundamental 

 questions are no longer discussed. 



This applies also to the question of the nature of man ; but 

 here another circumstance occurs which has essentially con- 

 tributed to prevent Anthropology from acquiring its rights, 



this is, the peculiarly limited conception formerly attached to 

 it. The old treatises on this subject make it appear merely as 

 an aggregate of materials which already belong to other 

 branches of science, and_are in Anthropology only arranged 





