ABSTRACT
The social life of Paleolithic man cannot be the object of study through direct observation. The facts dealt with by modern science are not very numerous and have only an indirect relation to the matter under investigation. Therefore, these facts may be understood only in the framework of a system that comprises all knowledge derived from human experience. This means that a philosophical conception of the whole is involved. The role that the philosophical conception plays in certain aspects of scientific research is not always or sufficiently apparent. But the problem to be studied is among those that cannot be dealt with through a simple investigation of facts relating to them directly. 1
