ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a proposed resolution to the circularity question, a resolution that treads a middle path between constructivism and positivism. It offers a discussion of schema research methods, followed by necessary excursion into linguistic relativity and the role metaphor plays in this research. “Principled ambivalence” is a useful frame for a mode of analysis that is neither wholly empiricist nor wholly constructivist, but that still maintains a reflexive stance. When studying schemas, additional problems must be confronted, ranging from the ontological to the epistemic to the pragmatic. The important ontological and epistemic issue is linguistic determinism. The primary research method used is adduction, the process of revealing foundational patterns and structure from particular instances. The adductive approach is guided by Herzfeld and Descola’s modest brand of empiricism, a kind of empirical anthropology that is inherently empirical but not “empiricist”.
