Quotes from Franz Boas

My parents had broken through the shackles of dogma.

It is our task to inquire into the causes that have brought about the observed differentiation, and to investigate the sequence of events that have led to the establishment of the multifarious forms of human life.

I object to teaching of slogans intended to befog the mind, of whatever kind they may be.

We all know scientists who in private life do not come up to the standard of truthfulness, but who, nevertheless, would not consciously falsify the results of their researches

Furthermore, the study of the present surroundings is insufficient: the history of the people, the influence of the regions through which it has passed on its migrations, and the people with whom it came into contact, must be considered.

I hope I may have succeeded in presenting to you, however imperfectly, the currents of thought due to the work of the immortal Darwin which have helped to make anthropology what it is at the present time.

In other words, we are interested in the anatomical and mental characteristics of men living under the same biological, geographical, and social environment, and as determined by their past.

Not so the scientist. The very essence of his life is the service of truth.

This idea was also brought out very clearly by Wallace, who emphasized that apparently reasonable activities of man might very well have developed without an actual application of reasoning.

If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.

The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake.

We do not discuss the anatomical, physiological, and mental characteristics of man considered as an individual; but we are interested in the diversity of these traits in groups of men found in different geographical areas and in different social classes.

If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.

There is no fundamental difference in the ways of thinking of primitive and civilized man. A close connection between race and personality has never been established.

The behavior of an individual is therefore determined not by his racial affiliation, but by the character of his ancestry and his cultural environment.

The historical development of the work of anthropologists seems to single out clearly a domain of knowledge that heretofore has not been treated by any other science.

The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake...can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake.

It would seem that mythological worlds have been built up only to be shattered again, and that new worlds were built from the fragments.

I believe the present state of our knowledge justifies us in saying that, while individuals differ, biological differences are small. There is no reason to believe that one race is by nature so much more intelligent, endowed with great will power, or emotionally more stable than another that the difference would materially influence its culture.

Ä°lkel ve soyutlanm?? kabileler bize stabil görünürler; çünkü rahat ve müdahale edilmeyen koÅŸullarda deÄŸiÅŸim oldukça yavaÅŸt?r.

Kültür, büyük ölçüde, insanlar?n iç yaÅŸant?s?yla alâkas? olmayan d?? etkenli hadiseler ile belirlenir.

BeÅŸerî geleneklere bakt???m?zda daimi evliliklerin, esasen iki bireyin aras?ndaki kal?c? cinsel aÅŸka dayanmad???n?, onun yerine iktisadî kayg?larla düzenlendiÄŸini görürüz. Resmî evlilik, mülkiyetin aktar?lmas?yla ilgili bir meseledir.

Ethnography must become self-critical, imaginative, and constructive; the field worker must be a willing agent of reform, but without sacrificing his scientific integrity.

In France, that let down the barriers more than a hundred years ago, the feeling of antipathy is still strong enough to sustain an anti-Jewish political party.