On Anthropological Knowledge : Three Essays

Sperber, Daniel

ISBN 10: 0521318513 / ISBN 13: 9780521318518

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1985

Used book that is in almost brand-new condition. May contain a remainder mark. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 55637705-75

Synopsis:

What can be understood of other cultures? And what can we learn about people in general from the study of other cultures? In the three closely related essays that constitute this book and which have already created considerable controversy in their original French versions, and been rewritten and expanded for this edition, Dan Sperber discusses these fundamental issues of anthropology. In the first essay he analyses the way in which anthropology is written and read. In the second, he offers a novel rationalist alternative to cultural relativism, based on both anthropological and psychological arguments, and illustrated by his own fieldwork in Ethiopia. The third essay provides an assessment of the work of Lévi-Strauss, in which the arguments of the previous two essays are linked with an incisive critique of Lévi-Strauss' contribution to the study of cultural variation.

Synopsis: What can be understood of other cultures? And what can we learn about people in general from the study of other cultures? In the three closely related essays that constitute this book and which have already created considerable controversy in their original French versions, and been rewritten and expanded for the present edition, Dan Sperber discusses these fundamental issues of anthropology. In the first essay he analyses the way in which anthropology is written and read. In the second, he offers a novel rationalist alternative to cultural relativism, based on both anthropological and psychological arguments, and illustrated by his own fieldwork in Ethiopia. The third essay provides an assessment of the work of Levi-Strauss, in which the arguments of the previous two essays are linked with an incisive critique of Levi-Strauss's contribution to the study of cultural variation.

Bibliographic Details

Title: On Anthropological Knowledge : Three Essays
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 1985
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Fine