Anthropology 1020E Lecture Notes - Cultural Ecology, Molecular Anthropology, Stabilizing Selection
6 Sep 2013
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Document Summary
The study of humankind, in all times and places. Anthropology is global in scope, holistic in vision (ie. it is biocultural) and is scientific in method. Primatology: study of nonhuman primate behavior, ecology, conservation, and evolution. Forensic anthropology: an example of applied anthropology. Science, as a self-correcting system of knowledge, assumes: The universe operates according to understandable rules, or laws such laws , in general, are immutable ie. they apply across time and space (eg. uniformitarianism) We can discern, study and understand these laws through quantitative observations, hypothesis testing, and data analysis. Hypotheses that remain unfalsified (ie. not disproven) after repeated testing are theories or laws. Plato: develops concept of essentialism: species have always been the way they are today stable, unchanging inner quality, essence . Eg. dogs recognize dogs, horses recognize horses. Archbishop james ussher: from a detailed study of genealogies of individuals named in the old testament of the bible, calculates that the.
