ANT 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Eugenics, Heredity, Applied Anthropology
Document Summary
Anthropology: study of human beings in all of their biological and cultural complexities, both past and present. Anthropology: unique story to tell and tells it through a unique language. Great chain of being: assumption about stasis rather than change. Assumed the world was only a few thousand years old, that its fundamental design had always existed as god had created it, and that it had changed little since creation. Furthermore, god had created everything on the planet within an eternal hierarchy. Thus, all things abided somewhere on a scale of perfection, from minerals, and plants on the bottom to insects, reptiles, and lower mammals. Catastrophism: theory at the time that the earth had changed only through major catastrophes set in motion by god, like the great flood detailed in the bible. Sir charles lyell: wrote principles of geology: revised 11 times between 1830-
