Multiple Origins: Edward Westermarck in Search of Mankind [Paperback]

Juhani Ihanus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0820443069 | ISBN-13: 978-0820443065 | Publication Date: May 1999

Based on extensive research this work gives a detailed account and a reappraisal of Edward Westermarck's thought. Westermarck had versatile relations to Victorian evolutionists (Wallace, Tylor, Spencer), and to British social anthropologists (Frazer, Haddon, Rivers, Malinowski) and psychologists (Shand, Sully). Westermarck was a pioneer of anthropological fieldwork, and his writings on the history of marriage and on the origin and development of moral ideas are modern classics. He was a transitional figure between evolutionism, on the one hand, and functionalism and structuralism, on the other hand. Westermarck's theories of exogamy and incest, and his notions of psychological ethics, moral emotions and concepts, and expanding morality were referred to by Durkheim and Freud, as they are referred to by present-day evolutionary theorists. The search for mankind continues to be of current interest.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Finnish --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Inc (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820443069
• ISBN-13: 978-0820443065
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,626,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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