Description
Book SynopsisFoundations of Anthropological Theory presents a selection of key texts that reflect the broad range of anthropological thought on human behavior, from Herodotus and Ibn Battuta to Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson.
- Enables the reader to situate the modern discipline of anthropology within the larger context of intellectual history
- Features key texts from the ancient and medieval worlds through to the Enlightenment
- Considers the presumptive rights of Europeans to judge the inherent moral worth of non-Western civilizations
- Provides fascinating insights into the ways historians, philosophers, missionaries, and even writers of fiction have made valuable contributions to modern anthropological inquiry
Table of ContentsIntroduction.
The Ancient World.
Herodotus, Histories (selections).
Xenophon, The Education of Cyrus (selections).
Aristotle, Politics (selections).
Tacitus, Germania (selections).
The Medieval World.
Europe – Journeys to the East:.
William of Rubruck, Journal of his embassy to the Mongols (selections).
Marco Polo, Travels (selections).
Sir John Mandeville, Travels (selections).
The Muslim World :.
Ibn Battuta, Travels (selections).
Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (Introduction to World History), (selections).
The Renaissance.
New Spain:.
Bernardino de Sahagun, General History of the Things of New Spain (selections).
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition (selections).
Bartolomeo de las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies (selections).
Garcilaso Inka de la Vega, Royal Commentaries on the Inca of Peru (selections).
Antarctic France:.
Jean de Léry, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil (selections).
Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals”.
Towards a comparative theory:.
Jose de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies (selections).
Jean Bodin, Method for the Comprehension of History (selections).
La Popelinière, “Letter to de Thou”.
The Seventeenth Century.
Matteo Ricci/Nicolas Trigault, Description of China (selections).
Paul Le Jeune, Journey among the Montagnais (selections).
Jean Chardin, Travels to Persia (selections).
William Dampier, A new voyage around the globe(selections).
The Enlightenment.
Ancients and Moderns:.
Sir William Temple, “Of Heroic Virtues”.
Bernard de Fontenelle, “The Origin of Fables”.
Exotic letters:.
Montesquieu, Persian Letters (selections).
Françoise de Grafigny, Letters of a Peruvian Woman (selections).
Dialogues with the Savages:.
Lahontan, Dialogue between the Author and a Savage of Good Sense (selections).
Diderot, Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville.
Comparative Perspectives.
France :.
François-Joseph Lafitau, Customs of the American Savages Compared to the Customs of the Earliest Times (selections).
Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (selections).
Voltaire, Commentary on the Spirit of Laws (selections).
Essai sur les Moeurs (selections).
Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (selections).
Scotland:.
David Hume, The Natural History of Religion (selections).
Adam Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence (selections).
Adam Ferguson, Essay on the History of Civil Society (selections)
