Explaining Human Origins: Myth, Imagination and Conjecture

by Wiktor Stoczkowski, Mary Turton (Translator)

Overview

The author argues that theories of human origins developed by archaeologists and physical anthropologists from the early nineteenth century to the present day are structurally similar to Western folk theories, and to the speculations of earlier philosophers. Reviewing a remarkable range of thinkers writing in a variety of European languages, he criticizes the lack of development in theories of human origins, but concludes optimistically that the power of the scientific approach will deliver more reliable theories—only if it is conscious of the baggage it carries over from popular discourse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521651349
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2002
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.67(d)
Lexile:	1620L (what's this?)

About the Author

Wiktor Stoczkowski (b.1959) was trained as a prehistoric archaeologist and ethnologist and, later, as an historian of science. He is lecturer in anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, is director of Groupe de recherches sur les savoirs (EHESS) and research member of Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale. His publications include Anthropologie naive, anthropologie savante (1994), Aux origines de l'humanite: Anthologie (1996), and Des Hommes, des extraterrestres et des dieux (1999), and numerous articles.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Prehistory and the conditioned imagination; 3. Anthropogenesis and science; 4. In search of causes; 5. A double game.

Editorial Reviews

From a review of a sample of scenarios of what he calls "hominization," a French anthropologist argues that scientific explanations of human origins do not venture much outside the conditioned box of popular ideas on such. Originally published in French as ve, anthropologie savant/> in 1994 by CNRS. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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