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Mind, body, and culture : anthropology and the biological interface / Geoffrey Samuel.

By:

Samuel, Geoffrey [author.]

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006Edition: Digitally printed 1st pbk. versionDescription: xii, 192 pages ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

0521024943
9780521024945

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

304.5 22

LOC classification:

GN365.9 .S25 2006

Contents:

1. New paradigms and modal states -- 2. A natural science of society -- 3. Starting points I -- 4. Starting points II -- 5. Interpreting the flow -- 6. The multimodal framework -- 7. The Ndembu modal state repertoire -- 8. Sociocentric modal states -- 9. Shamanic mechanisms -- 10. The growth of the clerical approach -- 11. Technical and transformational mechanisms -- 12. Mind, body and culture -- Conclusion.

Summary: "Concerned with the aspects of human behaviour which have been traditionally described as cultural or social, the author draws on his background in physics to suggest a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of our assumed concepts. Are culture, society and similar concepts from anthropology and sociology of any real use in making sense of human social life? How can we understand the relationship between the social group and the individual human beings, with their self-awareness and sense of personal identity, who make it up? Drawing on his background in physics, Dr Samuel suggests a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of the concepts we take for granted. The multimodal framework, or MMF, derives from this approach. It incorporates many of the insights of social and cultural anthropology, particularly the work of Gregory Bateson and Victor Turner, as well as being influenced by recent developments in the philosophy of science and related fields. Finally, the book considers some of the implications of the MMF for biological approaches, and focuses on questions of brain structure and on evolutionary explanations for human social behaviour."--Publisher description.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	North Campus North Campus Main Collection	304.5 SAM (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		A375537B

Originally published: 1990.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-185) and index.

"Concerned with the aspects of human behaviour which have been traditionally described as cultural or social, the author draws on his background in physics to suggest a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of our assumed concepts. Are culture, society and similar concepts from anthropology and sociology of any real use in making sense of human social life? How can we understand the relationship between the social group and the individual human beings, with their self-awareness and sense of personal identity, who make it up? Drawing on his background in physics, Dr Samuel suggests a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of the concepts we take for granted. The multimodal framework, or MMF, derives from this approach. It incorporates many of the insights of social and cultural anthropology, particularly the work of Gregory Bateson and Victor Turner, as well as being influenced by recent developments in the philosophy of science and related fields. Finally, the book considers some of the implications of the MMF for biological approaches, and focuses on questions of brain structure and on evolutionary explanations for human social behaviour."--Publisher description.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.

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