Download or read book Anthropology and Dialectical Naturalism written by Brian Morris and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-25 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the world just a cultural construct where people create their own realities? In this illuminating and wide-ranging philosophical treatise, Brian Morris critiques broad swathes of recent theory as he seeks to reclaim anthropology as a historical social science. He achieves this by grounding it within a metaphysic of "dialectical naturalism" or "evolutionary realism"--a tradition long ignored by academic philosophy. After reviewing the anthropological background of this worldview--the Greeks and the Enlightenment--Morris explores two essential themes. First, he critically assesses the main forms of dialectical naturalism, including Darwin's evolutionary theory, Marx's historical materialism, and the hylo-realism of the philosopher-scientist Mario Bunge. Second, he offers a strong plea to retain the dual heritage of anthropology as a historical science that combines both humanism and naturalism. A powerful philosophical manifesto, the book cogently upholds dialectical naturalism as the most grounding philosophy for anthropology and the social sciences.
Download or read book Anthropology and the Human Subject written by Brian Morris and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The German philosopher Immanuel Kant famously defined anthropology as the study of what it means to be a human being. Following in his footsteps "Anthropology and the Human Subject" provides a critical, comprehensive and wide-ranging investigation of conceptions of the human subject within the Western intellectual tradition, focusing specifically on the secular trends of the twentieth century. Encyclopaedic in scope, lucidly and engagingly written, the book covers the man and varied currents of thought within this tradition. Each chapter deals with a specific intellectual paradigm, ranging from Marx's historical materialism and Darwin's evolutionary naturalism, and their various off shoots, through to those currents of though that were prominent in the late twentieth century, such as, for example, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology and poststructuralism. With respect to each current of thought a focus is placed on their main exemplars, outlining their biographical context, their mode of social analysis, and the "ontology of the subject" that emerges from their key texts. The book will appeal not only to anthropologists but to students and scholars within the human sciences and philosophy, as well as to any person interested in the question: What does it mean to be human? "Ambitions in scope and encyclopaedic in execution...his style is always lucid. He makes difficult work accessible. His prose conveys the unmistakable impression of a superb and meticulous lecturer at work." Anthony P Cohen Journal Royal Anthropological Institute "There is a very little I can add to the outstanding criticism Brian Morris levels at deep ecology...Insightful as well as incisive...I have found his writings an educational experience." Murray Bookchin Institute of Social Ecology
Download or read book The Philosophy of Social Ecology written by Murray Bookchin and published by AK Press. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is nature? What is humanity's place in nature? And what is the relationship of society to the natural world? In an era of ecological breakdown, answering these questions has become of momentous importance for our everyday lives and for the future that we and other life-forms face. In the essays of The Philosophy of Social Ecology, Murray Bookchin confronts these questions head on: invoking the ideas of mutualism, self-organization, and unity in diversity, in the service of ever expanding freedom. Refreshingly polemical and deeply philosophical, they take issue with technocratic and mechanistic ways of understanding and relating to, and within, nature. More importantly, they develop a solid, historically and politically based ethical foundation for social ecology, the field that Bookchin himself created and that offers us hope in the midst of our climate catastrophe.
Download or read book Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology written by Phillip Honenberger and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-10-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is a human being? Philosophical anthropology has approached this question with unusual sophistication, experimentalism, and subtlety. This volume explores the philosophical anthropologies of Scheler, Gehlen, Plessner, and Blumenberg in terms of their relevance to contemporary theories of nature, naturalism, organic life, and human affairs.
Download or read book The Distortion of Nature s Image written by Damian Gerber and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2019-03-25 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrates how the notion of an ecological society remains a decisively political question. The global ecological crisis is upon us. From global warming to the long-term implications of ocean acidification, air and water pollution, deforestation, and the omnipresent dangers of nuclear technology the future of our planetary home is threatened. Yet in the midst of the unfolding crisis, the conventional ideologies of the twentieth century and their representations of nature remain unchallenged by both the defenders of capitalism and capitalism’s most radical critics. The Distortion of Nature’s Image illustrates how the anti-naturalism of late capitalist society, in which nature is reified into the emptiness of mere matter, simply a thing to be dominated, is subtly complemented by the failure of the Left to go both beyond the historic limitations of Marx’s nineteenth-century viewpoint and beyond anarchism’s blind faith in “natural law.” However, an alternative for comprehending nature and the ecological crisis as historical and socialphenomena remains open in the dialectical naturalism of Western Marxism and Murray Bookchin’s social ecology. By examining in closer detail how Bookchin’s social ecology politicizes the concept of nature, as well as how precursory models in Western Marxist thought provide a foundation for this, Damian Gerber illustrates how the notion of an ecological society remains a decisively political question. “There are very few studies that bring anarchism into conversation with an ecological focus. Gerber’s book does this in extraordinary form, offering a critical but balanced overview.” — Simon Springer, author of The Anarchist Roots of Geography: Toward Spatial Emancipation
Download or read book Trail of an Intellectual Nomad written by Brian Morris and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leaving school at fifteen, Brian Morris has had a and varied career in Malawi, before becoming a university teacher. Now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, he is the author of numerous articles and books on anthropology, religion and symbolism, hunter gatherer societies, concepts of the individual and radical politics. His most recent books are Homage to Peasant Smallholders (Luviri Press 2022) and Anthropology and Dialectical Naturalism (Black Rose 2022). After writing much about Anthropology, Brian Morris finally shares about his life. While in his youth the academic future seemed very dim, an all consuming interest in nature was already there. The author does not only share the formative experiences in Malawi and India, but he also shares his intellectual development to become a Dialectical Anthropologist. His travel and research experiences are fascinating, and it is amazing how much fits into one life.
Download or read book Anthropology Ecology and Anarchism written by Brian Morris and published by PM Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of a long career, Brian Morris has created an impressive body of engaging and insightful writings—from social anthropology and ethnography to politics, history, and philosophy—that have made these subjects accessible to the layperson without sacrificing analytical rigor. But until now, the essays collected here, originally published in obscure journals and political magazines, have been largely unavailable to the broad readership to which they are so naturally suited. The opposite of arcane, specialized writing, Morris’s work takes an interdisciplinary approach that moves seamlessly among topics, offering up coherent and practical connections between his various scholarly interests and his deeply held commitment to anarchist politics and thought. Approached in this way, anthropology and ecology are largely untapped veins whose relevance for anarchism and other traditions of social thought have only recently begun to be explored and debated. But there is a long history of anarchist writers drawing upon works in those related fields. Morris’s essays both explore past connections and suggest ways that broad currents of anarchist thought will have new and ever-emerging relevance for anthropology and many other ways of understanding social relationships. His writings avoid the constraints of dogma and reach across an impressive array of topics to give readers a lucid orientation within these traditions and point to new ways to confront common challenges.
Download or read book Trail of an Intellectual Nomad written by Brian Morris and published by Luviri Press. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leaving school at fifteen, Brian Morris has had a and varied career in Malawi, before becoming a university teacher. Now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, he is the author of numerous articles and books on anthropology, religion and symbolism, hunter gatherer societies, concepts of the individual and radical politics. His most recent books are Homage to Peasant Smallholders (Luviri Press 2022) and Anthropology and Dialectical Naturalism (Black Rose 2022). After writing much about Anthropology, Brian Morris finally shares about his life. While in his youth the academic future seemed very dim, an all consuming interest in nature was already there. The author does not only share the formative experiences in Malawi and India, but he also shares his intellectual development to become a Dialectical Anthropologist. His travel and research experiences are fascinating, and it is amazing how much fits into one life.
Download or read book Religion and Anthropology written by Brian Morris and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important textbook provides a critical introduction to the social anthropology of religion, focusing on more recent classical ethnographies. Comprehensive, free of scholastic jargon, engaging, and comparative in approach, it covers all the major religious traditions that have been studied concretely by anthropologists - Shamanism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and its relation to African and Melanesian religions and contemporary Neopaganism. Eschewing a thematic approach and treating religion as a social institution and not simply as an ideology or symbolic system, the book follows the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining an interpretative understanding and sociological analysis. The book will appeal to all students of anthropology, whether established scholars or initiates to the discipline, as well as to students of the social sciences and religious studies, and for all those interested in comparative religion.
Download or read book Steps to an Ecology of Mind written by Gregory Bateson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. This classic anthology of his major work includes a new Foreword by his daughter, Mary Katherine Bateson. 5 line drawings.
Download or read book Reverse Anthropology written by Stuart Kirsch and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stuart Kirsch is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He has consulted widely on environmental issues and land rights in the Pacific, and was actively involved in the political campaign and legal case against the environmental impact of the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea.
Download or read book Homage to Peasant Smallholders written by Brian Morris and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2022-07-22 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers the reader a portrait - a representation no less - of the social life and culture of the peasant-smallholders of the Shire Highlands, situated in Southern Malawi. It explores the relationship between the people of the Shire Highlands and the natural landscape - in all its diversity and dynamic complexity. It is an ethnographic study focussing specifically on the peasant-smallholders of the Highlands, who constitute around 80 per cent of the current population and their complex, multi-faceted relationship to the land and its diverse biota.
Download or read book Dialectics in World Politics written by Shannon Brincat and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the conceptual, methodological and praxeological aspects of dialectical analysis in world politics. As dialectics has remained an under-theorised analytical tool in international relations, this volume provides a critical resource for those seeking to deploy dialectics in their own research by showcasing its effectiveness for understanding and transforming world politics. Contributions demonstrate a number of innovative ways in which dialectical thinking can be of benefit to the study of world politics by covering three thematic concerns: (i) conceptual or meta-theoretical dimensions of dialectics; (ii) methodological features and general principles of dialectical approaches; and (iii) applications and/or case studies that deploy a dialectical approach to world politics. Canvassing a diverse range of dialectical approaches on key issues in world politics – from global security to postcolonial resistances, from the theoretical problems of reification and complexity, to the study of the global futures and the intercultural historical expressions of dialectics – Dialectics and World Politics offers key insights into the social forces and contradictions that are generative of transformation in world politics and yet routinely downplayed in orthodox approaches to international relations. Each chapter demonstrates how dialectics can be utilized more broadly in the discipline and deployed in a critical fashion as part of an emancipatory project. This book was originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.
Download or read book The Dialectics of Social Life written by Robert Francis Murphy and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In a sweeping synthesis that takes the reader from the ideas of Hegel, Marx, Freud, Durkheim, and Simmel to modern anthropology, Robert Murphy lays bare the failures of established social science and charts the new directions that theory must take. The author believes that academic social inquiry has produced a partial and distorted picture of social reality. He argues instead for a complete and critical view of the processes of society that would draw from the insights and methods of a non-Marxian dialectic philosophy. To Professor Murphy, contradictions between ideology and behavior are not signs of social malaise or symptoms of revolution but are existential to humanity. From this vantage he sees the tendency of all societies to be toward imbalance and movement--not toward stability."--Jacket.
Download or read book Climate without Nature written by Andrew M. Bauer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Anthropocene narrative reproduces an ideological divide between Society and Nature and forecloses an inclusive politics of global warming.
Download or read book Herder written by Anik Waldow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The immediate occasion for this volume was provided by a conference on "The Enlightenment and the Development of Philosophical Anthropology" held at the University of Sydney in November 2013 and organized by Anik Waldow, Dalia Nassar, and Stephen Gaukroger."--Page v.
Download or read book Social Ecology After Bookchin written by Andrew Light and published by Guilford Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For close to four decades, Murray Bookchin's eco-anarchist theory of social ecology has inspired philosophers and activists working to link environmental concerns with the desire for a free and egalitarian society. New veins of social ecology are now emerging, both extending and challenging Bookchin's ideas. For this instructive book, Andrew Light has assembled leading theorists to contemplate the next steps in the development of social ecology. Topics covered include reassessing ecological ethics, combining social ecology and feminism, building decentralized communities, evaluating new technology, relating theory to activism, and improving social ecology through interaction with other left traditions.
