What is it to be human? What are our specifically human attributes, our capacities and liabilities? Such questions gave birth to anthropology as an Enlightenment science. This book argues that it is again appropriate to bring “the human” to the fore, to reclaim the singularity of the word as central to the anthropological endeavor, not on the basis of the substance of a human nature – “To be human is to act like this and react like this, to feel this and want this” – but in terms of species-wide capacities: capabilities for action and imagination, liabilities for suffering and cruelty. The contributors approach “the human” with an awareness of these complexities and particularities, rendering this volume unique in its ability to build on anthropology’s ethnographic expertise.
| ISBN: | 9781845456375 |
| Publication date: | 1st March 2010 |
| Author: | Nigel Rapport |
| Publisher: | Berghahn Books |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 224 pages |
| Series: | Methodology & History in Anthropology |
| Genres: |
Social and cultural anthropology Ethnic studies |
What is it to be human? What are our specifically human attributes, our capacities and liabilities? Such questions gave birth to anthropology as an Enlightenment science. This book argues that it is again appropriate to bring “the human” to the fore, to reclaim the singularity of the word as central to the anthropological endeavor, not on the basis of the substance of a human nature – “To be human is to act like this and react like this, to feel this and want this” – but in terms of species-wide capacities: capabilities for action and imagination, liabilities for suffering and cruelty. The contributors approach “the human” with an awareness of these complexities and particularities, rendering this volume unique in its ability to build on anthropology’s ethnographic expertise.
Human Nature as Capacity features in the following genres: Social and cultural anthropology, Ethnic studies
Human Nature as Capacity is available in Hardback
Human Nature as Capacity was written by Nigel Rapport and published by Berghahn Books
Human Nature as Capacity has 224 pages
Yes it is part of Methodology & History in Anthropology series
£93.60