Robert L. Carneiro

Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropologytraces the interaction of evolutionary thought and anthropological theory from Herbert Spencer to the twenty-first century. It is a focused examination of how the idea of evolution has continued to provide anthropology with a master principle around which a vast body of data can be organized and synt

The greatest of cultural achievements, from the Taj Majal to Beethovens 9th symphony, could never have been produced, or even dreamt of, except in a society organized on a state basis. Had people continued to live in small, autonomous communities, as they had for the first two million years of human existence, such achievements would have remained well beyond their capabilities. Thus the form of organization known as the state was one of the most momentous attainments in human history. Yet most theories tracing this development, from the tiniest villages to large and complex states, remain unsatisfactory. The invention of agriculture and the production of food surpluses have been seen as essential to this development but they were not enough. Some means had to be invoked enabling the surmounting of local autonomies and the creation of multi-community political units, first chiefdoms and eventually states. And since societies, no matter how small, do not give up their sovereignty voluntarily, they had to be coerced into doing so through the agency of war. But warfare only under special conditions, those specified by the Circumscription Theory. This theory, now the leading anthropological theory of early state formation, is not only described in detail in this book, but is also accompanied here by an accountnever before toldof the theorys curious and convoluted history.

Thomas Babington Macaulay was one of the great English historians of the nineteenth century. He first made his name as an essayist, contributing many articles on a variety of topics to the Edinburgh Review, the leading literary journal of its day. Among the contributions Macaulay made in these essays was setting forth a distinct philosophy of historiography, in which he argued that written history should be more than a catalog of conspicuous events. It should, he held, also portray events in the everyday lives of common people--something most historians of the day felt was "beneath the dignity of history." By insisting that depicting such events was indeed a proper function of the historian, Macaulay showed himself to be not only a historian with an unusually wide vista, but also an anthropologist before his time. When Macaulay came to write his famous five-volume History of England from the Accession of James II, he gave expression to this philosophy by including in this work a long chapter in which many aspects of English society and culture were surveyed as they stood in the year 1685. This groundbreaking chapter, now all but forgotten, deserves to be rescued from oblivion. It is presented here, standing alone, preceded by a long introduction in which Macaulay's life and career are set forth in detail--highlighting his contributions to English history, politics, and letters.

For ages the events of human experience were explained by recourse to supernatural agents and forces. Given the rudimentary intellectual tools then available to the human race, no better explanations were possible. Over the ensuing centuries, the ideas and methods of empirical science came into being and were applied to all aspects of human experience. Conceptions of life, the world, the universe, and even of God were modified, with naturalistic interpretations challenging and supplanting supernaturalistic ones. Today the viewpoint of science is gaining ever-greater acceptance. In his eloquent new book, The Evolution of the Human Mind, Robert Carneiro traces the history of this development—from the Paleolithic to the present—vividly describing the major events that have marked this great transition in human thought.

For ages the events of human experience were explained by recourse to supernatural agents and forces. Given the rudimentary intellectual tools then available to the human race, no better explanations were possible. Over the ensuing centuries, the ideas and methods of empirical science came into being and were applied to all aspects of human experience. Conceptions of life, the world, the universe, and even of God were modified, with naturalistic interpretations challenging and supplanting supernaturalistic ones. Today the viewpoint of science is gaining ever-greater acceptance. In his eloquent new book, The Evolution of the Human Mind, Robert Carneiro traces the history of this development—from the Paleolithic to the present—vividly describing the major events that have marked this great transition in human thought.

Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropologytraces the interaction of evolutionary thought and anthropological theory from Herbert Spencer to the twenty-first century. It is a focused examination of how the idea of evolution has continued to provide anthropology with a master principle around which a vast body of data can be organized and synthesized. Erudite and readable, and quoting extensively from early theorists (such as Edward Tylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, John McLennan, Henry Maine, and James Frazer) so that the reader might judge them on the basis of their own words, Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology is useful reading for courses in anthropological theory and the history of anthropology.

Is history more than (in Boswell's words) a `chronological series of remarkable events'? Does it have a pattern? Is it fraught with `meaning'? Can we discern its trends? What determines its course? In short, can a substantial and coherent philosophy of history be devised that offers answers to these questions? These issues, which have intrigued -and bedeviled - historians for centuries, are explored in this thoughtful book.

Is history more than (in Boswell's words) a `chronological series of remarkable events'? Does it have a pattern? Is it fraught with `meaning'? Can we discern its trends? What determines its course? In short, can a substantial and coherent philosophy of history be devised that offers answers to these questions? These issues, which have intrigued -and bedeviled - historians for centuries, are explored in this thoughtful book.