Anthropology is the study of man, mankind and humanity, its diversities and developments in all its cultural, social and historical dimensions. As a distinctive scientific discipline, anthropology began to emerge in the mid-19th century at the intersection of the development of natural science and European colonial enterprise. Contemporary world understanding of anthropology has become increasingly significant, enabling us to understand the origin and evolution of ours and others’ b... [More]

We can usefully understand a given society in terms of its characteristic visions of ultimate reality. What, as shown both by its philosophical preoccupations and its socially valued activities (its economic relations, its sacred rituals, its art), is its basic vision of what truly is? In this course we turn the spotlight on western culture. We familiarise ourselves with some of the major philosophical issues involved in contending views of the ultimately real. We consider how in di... [More]