- Paperback: 800 pages
- Publisher: Fontana Press; First Edition edition (3 Mar 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006861784
- ISBN-13: 978-0006861782
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 5.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 169,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
This is a history of how Western thinkers have argued over the centuries about what it means to be human. The history of that argument, and an interpretation of its significances, rather than the description of any particular body of knowledge is central to this text. The narrative is broadly chronological, though organized around key themes in the history of scientific ideas.
From the Back Cover
As living creatures, human beings are an integral part of nature, yet we are also keenly aware of how language and culture separate us from it. The 'Fontana History of the Human Sciences' maps attempts in the West, faced by this recognition of our unique place in the world, to make rational sense of our lives and to comprehend what, scientifically, it means to be human.
Roger Smith's book charts the origins, growth and consolidation of sociology, linguistics, economics, anthropology and especially psychology – those areas of study that today have come to be known as the humans sciences – and assesses their changing contributions to our understanding of human behaviour from the Renaissance to the present day. The book explores the influence of the architects of modern Western ideas about human nature: thinkers as diverse as Locke, Descartes, Montesquieu, Marx, Darwin and Freud. It also examines the emergence of questions central to understanding the West's reaction to the onset of modernity: the effects of colonialism on Western thought; the construction of the nation-state; the interaction of the new sciences of the person and jurisprudence; the historical origins of ideas about sex and gender; the emergence of an introspective language about the self; and humanity's response to new technologies. 'The Fontana History of the Human Sciences' deftly bridges the Sciences and the Humanities to provide a unique and superbly lucid account of the history of attempts to use natural science to understand human nature.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A comprehensive, thought provoking and challenging read. This book looks at scientific attempts to understand human beings and puts those attempts in a historical context. It enables the reader to grasp both the successes and limitations of this project from the Enlightenment to today. It examines western thought and thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Hegel, Freud, Jung, Durkheim, Derrida, Foucault. Its subject matter is history, sociology, psychology, philosophy. The focus is on systematic and scientific attempts to understand and control human beings. But the book in not a Whig history and examines the construction and limitations of systems of thought taking human beings rather than inanimate matter as their subject matter. An impressive achievement and great read.
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