Editing Ethnology (section)

==Scientific discipline==
[[File:AFKollar 1779.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Adam František Kollár]], 1779]]
{{further|Ethnicity}}
Compared to [[ethnography]], the study of single groups through direct contact with the culture, ethnology takes the research that ethnographers have compiled and then compares and contrasts different cultures.

The term ''ethnologia'' (''ethnology'') is credited to [[Adam František Kollár|Adam Franz Kollár]] (1718–1783) who used and defined it in his ''Historiae ivrisqve pvblici Regni Vngariae amoenitates'' published in [[Vienna]] in 1783.<ref>Zmago Šmitek and Božidar Jezernik, "The anthropological tradition in Slovenia." In: Han F. Vermeulen and Arturo Alvarez Roldán, eds. ''Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology.'' 1995.</ref> as: "the science of nations and peoples, or, that study of learned men in which they inquire into the origins, languages, customs, and institutions of various nations, and finally into the fatherland and ancient seats, in order to be able better to judge the nations and peoples in their own times."<ref>Kollár, Adam František  − Historiae jurisque publici regni Ungariae amoenitates, I-II. Vienna., 1783</ref>

Kollár's interest in linguistic and cultural diversity was aroused by the situation in his native multi-ethnic and multilingual [[History of Hungary|Kingdom of Hungary]] and his roots among its [[Slovak people|Slovaks]], and by the shifts that began to emerge after the gradual retreat of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the more distant [[Balkans#Demographics|Balkans]].<ref>Gheorghiţă Geană, "Discovering the whole of humankind: the genesis of anthropology through the Hegelian looking-glass." In: Han F. Vermeulen and Arturo Alvarez Roldán, eds. ''Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology''. 1995.</ref>

Among the goals of ethnology have been the reconstruction of [[human history]], and the formulation of [[culture|cultural]] [[universal (metaphysics)|invariants]], such as the [[incest taboo]] and culture change, and the formulation of generalizations about "[[human nature]]", a concept which has been criticized since the 19th century by various philosophers ([[Hegel]], [[Marx]], [[structuralism]], etc.). In some parts of the world, ethnology has developed along independent paths of investigation and [[Pedagogy|pedagogical]] doctrine, with ''[[cultural anthropology]]'' becoming dominant especially in the [[United States]], and ''[[social anthropology]]'' in [[Great Britain]].  The distinction between the three terms is increasingly blurry. Ethnology has been considered an academic field since the late 18th century, especially in Europe and is sometimes conceived of as any comparative study of human groups.

[[File:Levi-strauss_260.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Claude Lévi-Strauss]]]]
[[File:Izmir Ethnography Museum.jpg|thumb|200px|[[İzmir Ethnography Museum]] seen from the courtyard]]
The 15th-century exploration of America by European explorers had an important role in formulating new notions of the Occident (the [[Western world]]), such as the notion of the "[[Other (philosophy)|Other]]".  This term was used in conjunction with "savages", which was either seen as a brutal barbarian, or alternatively, as the "[[noble savage]]". Thus, [[civilization]] was opposed in a dualist manner to [[barbary]], a classic opposition constitutive of the even more commonly shared [[ethnocentrism]]. The progress of ethnology, for example with [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]]'s [[structural anthropology]], led to the criticism of conceptions of a linear [[progress (history)|progress]], or the pseudo-opposition between "societies with histories" and "societies without histories", judged too dependent on a limited view of [[history]] as constituted by accumulative growth.

Lévi-Strauss often referred to [[Montaigne]]'s [[Essays (Montaigne)|essay]] on [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] as an early example of ethnology. Lévi-Strauss aimed, through a structural method, at discovering universal invariants in human society, chief among which he believed to be the incest taboo. However, the claims of such cultural [[Universality (philosophy)|universalism]] have been criticized by various 19th- and 20th-century social thinkers, including Marx, [[Nietzsche]], [[Michel Foucault|Foucault]], [[Derrida]], [[Althusser]], and [[Deleuze]].

The French school of ethnology was particularly significant for the development of the discipline, since the early 1950s. Important figures in this movement have included Lévi-Strauss, [[Paul Rivet]], [[Marcel Griaule]], [[Germaine Dieterlen]], and [[Jean Rouch]].