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The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology

3.9/5 ( ratings)

This book gives a new interpretation of the reception of the new world by the old. It is the first in-depth study of the pre-Enlightenment methods by which Europeans attempted to describe and classify the American Indian and his society. Between 1512 and 1724 a simple determinist view of human society was replaced by a more sophisticated relativist approach. Anthony Pagden uses new methods of technical analysis, already developed in philosophy and anthropology, to examine four groups of writers who analysed Indian culture: the sixteenth-century theologian, Francisco de Vitoria, and his followers; the 'champion of the Indians' Bartolom� de Las Casas; and the Jesuit historians Jos� de Acosta and Joseph Fran�ois Lafitau. Dr Pagden explains the sources for their theories and how these conditioned their observations. He also examines for the first time the key terms in each writer's vocabulary - words such as 'barbarian' and 'civil' - and the assumptions that lay beneath them.

Language: English

Pages: 284

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Release: April 09, 1987

ISBN: 0521337046

ISBN 13: 9780521337045

The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology

3.9/5 ( ratings)

This book gives a new interpretation of the reception of the new world by the old. It is the first in-depth study of the pre-Enlightenment methods by which Europeans attempted to describe and classify the American Indian and his society. Between 1512 and 1724 a simple determinist view of human society was replaced by a more sophisticated relativist approach. Anthony Pagden uses new methods of technical analysis, already developed in philosophy and anthropology, to examine four groups of writers who analysed Indian culture: the sixteenth-century theologian, Francisco de Vitoria, and his followers; the 'champion of the Indians' Bartolom� de Las Casas; and the Jesuit historians Jos� de Acosta and Joseph Fran�ois Lafitau. Dr Pagden explains the sources for their theories and how these conditioned their observations. He also examines for the first time the key terms in each writer's vocabulary - words such as 'barbarian' and 'civil' - and the assumptions that lay beneath them.

Language: English

Pages: 284

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Release: April 09, 1987

ISBN: 0521337046

ISBN 13: 9780521337045

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