Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief

Magic, Conspiracies, and Misinformation
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-42033-2
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 106 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 335 g

This book explores both scientific and humanistic theoretical traditions in anthropology through the lens of ontology.

The first part of the book examines different methods for generating valid anthropological knowledge and proposes a shift in current consensus. Drawing on Western scholars of antiquity and the medieval period and moving away from 20th-century theorists, it argues that we must first make ontological assumptions about the kinds of things that can exist (or not) before we can then develop epistemologies that study those kinds of things. The book goes on to apply the ontology-first theory to a set of case studies in modern day conspiracy theories, misinformation, and magical thinking. It asserts that we need to move away from unneeded metaphysical assumptions of conspiracy theories being misinformation and argues that reconstructing particular historical events can be a fruitful zone for application of quantitative methods to humanistic questions.

Theorizing the Anthropology of Belief is an excellent supplementary suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in anthropological theory.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Matthews, Luke J.

Robertson, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 The Bidirectional Relationship of Ontology and Epistemology

2 Bidirectionality in the “Ontological Turn” in Anthropology

3 Bidirectionality of Ontology-Epistemology in the Western Tradition

4 Evolution, Biological Anthropology, and Archeology in Ontological Perspective

5 Quantitative Cultural Analysis within Ontological Uniqueness

6 The Scientific Study of Low-Verifiability Beliefs

7 An Ontology of Anthropology as Both Science and Humanities

Über Autor(innen)

Luke J. Matthews is a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation. An anthropologist, Luke has studied social networks of primates, evolution of religion, and cultural processes in healthcare, social policy, and national security. Most recently, his interests center on blending ontological and evolutionary theories to understand misinformation.

Paul Robertson is Senior Lecturer in Classics & Humanities at the University of New Hampshire. An expert in religion and the ancient Mediterranean, he has published books on early Christianity and Greco-Roman thought (2016), theorizing religion (2019), and tracing the history of Western selfhood through the myth of the Cyclops (2022).