Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief

This book explores both scientific and humanistic theoretical traditions in anthropology through the lens of ontology. Suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in anthropological theory.

Autorentext

Luke J. Matthews is a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation. An anthropologist, Luke has studied social networks of primates, evolution of religion, and cultural processes in healthcare, social policy, and national security. Most recently, his interests center on blending ontological and evolutionary theories to understand misinformation.

Paul Robertson is Senior Lecturer in Classics & Humanities at the University of New Hampshire. An expert in religion and the ancient Mediterranean, he has published books on early Christianity and Greco-Roman thought (2016), theorizing religion (2019), and tracing the history of Western selfhood through the myth of the Cyclops (2022).

Inhalt

1 The Bidirectional Relationship of Ontology and Epistemology

2 Bidirectionality in the "Ontological Turn" in Anthropology

3 Bidirectionality of Ontology-Epistemology in the Western Tradition

4 Evolution, Biological Anthropology, and Archeology in Ontological Perspective

5 Quantitative Cultural Analysis within Ontological Uniqueness

6 The Scientific Study of Low-Verifiability Beliefs

7 An Ontology of Anthropology as Both Science and Humanities