Explore "The Mind of Primitive Man" by Franz Boas on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
WE will now turn to the question what these results of our inquiry teach us in regard to the problems that confront our modern civilization, particularly our nation. The development of the American nation through the amalgamation of diverse European nationalities, the presence of the Negro, Indian, and Chinese, and the whole ever-increasing heterogeneity of the component elements of our people, involve a number of problems to the solution of which our inquiries contribute important data.
Our previous considerations make clear the hypothetical character of many of the generally accepted assumptions, and indicate that not all of the questions involved can be answered at the present time with scientific accuracy. It is disappointing that we have to take this critical attitude, because the political question of dealing with all these groups of people is of great and immediate importance. However, it should be solved on the basis of scientific knowledge, not according to emotional clamor. Under present conditions, we seem to be called upon to formulate definite answers to questions that require the most painstaking and unbiassed investigation; and the more urgent the demand for final conclusions, the more needed is a critical examination of the phenomena and of the available methods of solution.