Anthropology, like other academic disciplines, has sparked theoretical debate among its colleagues. As anthropologists have attempted to explain human behavior and culture, some of these places have been discredited, others dismantled and parts renovated, and still others have become staples of anthropological analysis. Regardless of modern opinion regarding the theories of past anthropologists, the elements of each concept remain essential to study. Using resources from McGee and Warms, Moore, Perry, Salzman, Sokolvosky, and Spencer, I will evaluate pairs of ideas in anthropology that include the ideographic and nomeothetic, unilinear evolution and neoevolution, and the organic and the superorganic, while also indicating their influences on other aspects of anthropological thought. One of the major debates in anthropological theory is that of ideographic and nomothetic explanations, which encompasses the debate over whether the discipline of anthropology is historical or scientific. The ideographic is defined according to AR Radcliffe-Brown as “patterns found in a particular place and time” (Salzman 2010: 26). An ideographic approach is notably associated with historical particularism, founded by Franz Boas and defended by Alfred Kroeber. Boas believed that cultural practices should be understood in specific cultural contexts, not in stages of evolution (Perry 2003: 141). Thus, he emphasized ethnographic fieldwork on individual cultures, which remains the major concern of cultural anthropology. Boas believed that to understand the customs of a culture, one must study the environmental conditions during their development, psychological factors and historical connections, but its history was the most imperative (McGee and Warms 2012: 114)... ... middle of article ......Introductory story. 5th edition. New York: McGraw-HillCompanies, Inc. Moore, Jerry D. 2009 Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. 3rd edition. UK: AltaMira Press. Perry, Richard J. 2003 Five Key Concepts in Anthropological Thought. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Salzman, Philip Carl2010 Thinking Theoretically. In Thinking Anthropologically: A Practical Guide for Students. 3rd edition. 26-35. Boston: Prentice Hall. Sokolovsky, Jay2012 4034 Harris. PowerPoint presentation. Website for the ANT 4034 Canvas course at UniversitySouth Florida. Accessed February 24, 2014, from https://usflearn.instructure.com.Spencer, Herbert1860 The Social Organism. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. 5th edition.Pp. 13-30. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc...