Philosophical Anthropology

The Encyclopaedia of Anthropology deals with the nature
and position of Anthropology as a subject among various
fields like culture, social, political, cognitive, genetic,
philosophy and peace etc. It explains its development,
theoretical orientation and methods, its social and
cultural background, fundamental concepts, civilization,
kinship system, etc.
Anthropology is both science and history. Therefore,
the strict history-or-science dichotomy is inapplicable to
anthropology. Scientific-nomothetic explanations cannot
be reduced to historical explanations as the latter, cannot
be reduced to the former. Any conclusion regarding the
impossibility of scientific-nomothetic anthropology is
simply a non sequitur because such a kind of
anthropology is possible, at least in principle, if not in
practice. The old bias in anthropology towards the study
of the rural and powerless is now being corrected, and
work is undertaken on elites and politicians as well as
those whom they lead. Leadership and power in the
Third World rest with social groups that are at once
indigenous and in a number of cases alienated firom
those over whom they preside.
The science of anthropology grows as members of
previously non-participating cultures come to share in
the gathering and interpretation of data, the building
theory. We learn objectivity by studying other peoples,gain insight by the studies that others make of us and
achieve responsibility by applying the results of our
rapidly changing, evolving world. Each volumes in this
encyclopaedia brings together significant contributions
with some aspect of a science that is increasingly
complex, vital and related to the future.