science · 02 February 1905 · 119 years ago
death
Died 2 Feb 1905 at age 78 (born 26 Jun 1826).
German ethnologist and world traveller who theorized that there is a general psychic unity of humankind that is responsible for certain elementary ideas common to all peoples (Elementargedanken). Bastian proposed, on the other hand, that cultural traits, folklore, myths, and beliefs of various ethnic groups originate within each group according to laws of cultural evolution (Volkergedanken). He was the first director of the Berlin Ethnological Museum and established the Berlin Anthropology Society.
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