Taking the ethnography of Theodor Koch-Grünberg as ideal realization of the scientific project of Völkerkunde (German anthropology), ever since its invention by Waitz and, principally Adolf Bastian, up to its self-elimination in the "Third Reich", we analyze initially the roots of this project in German philosophy since Herder, up to the neo-Kantian rupture between the natural and the social (or cultural) sciences, in midst 19th century. After that, we try to show that, as a program for ethnography, the epistemic presuppositions of Völkerkunde were, ever since its beginnings, condemned to fail, - even considering the heroic trails of Koch-Grünberg.
history of anthropology; Völkerkunde; Theodor Koch-Grünberg; ethnography