Humankinds

Meer over het boek

Anthropology is a polysemous term, often understood differently in various academic contexts. In continental Europe, it typically refers to philosophical anthropology, focusing on universal human nature. In contrast, Anglo-American scholarship primarily investigates cultural and ethnic differences, known as cultural anthropology. The relationship between these traditions and their derivatives—such as literary anthropology, historical anthropology, ethnology, ethnography, and intercultural studies—remains a topic of debate. Both traditions trace their origins to significant cultural and scientific shifts in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when the term anthropology began to take on its current meanings. Although the Renaissance did not create the concept of the human, it sparked a diversification of ideas central to humanism. The definition of what it means to be human became increasingly contested due to developments like the rise of natural sciences, religious pluralism, and colonial expansion, which challenged established certainties. This proliferation of human doctrines in the early modern era supports the notion that anthropology is a discipline of crisis, striving to establish common values and norms when authority is under pressure.