Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief
Product details
- ISBN 9781032420332
- Weight: 453g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Feb 2024
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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This book explores both scientific and humanistic theoretical traditions in anthropology through the lens of ontology.
The first part of the book examines different methods for generating valid anthropological knowledge and proposes a shift in current consensus. Drawing on Western scholars of antiquity and the medieval period and moving away from 20th-century theorists, it argues that we must first make ontological assumptions about the kinds of things that can exist (or not) before we can then develop epistemologies that study those kinds of things. The book goes on to apply the ontology-first theory to a set of case studies in modern day conspiracy theories, misinformation, and magical thinking. It asserts that we need to move away from unneeded metaphysical assumptions of conspiracy theories being misinformation and argues that reconstructing particular historical events can be a fruitful zone for application of quantitative methods to humanistic questions.
Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief is an excellent supplementary suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in anthropological theory.
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).
