Crab antics;: The social anthropology of English-speaking Negro societies of the Caribbean (Caribbean series)

Wilson, Peter J.

Yale University Press

"A fascinating monograph on the conditions of human evolution and the conditions required by it . . . .This is first-rate scientific speculation -- lucid and straightforward." -The New Yorker "This is an excellent analysis, and though it goes to the heart of issues in genetics and anthropology, it is eminently accessible for the general reader." -ALA Booklist

Man, the promising primate: The conditions of human evolution

Science & Math

Evolution

Yale

In spite of recent advances in the study of evolution, scholars have shied away from the most intriguing problem of all―how and why animal nature became human nature. In confronting this problem, Peter Wilson leads his readers on a fascinating exploration. What made it possible, he asks, for one genus of the order Primates, living in Africa in the Plio-Pleistocene era, to become human and to develop culture? Continuing the tradition of bold speculation fathered by the philosophical anthropology of Hobbes and Rousseau, Wilson seeks to unravel the evidence for such basic human adaptations as self-conscious thought, symbolic kinship, ritual behavior, and objective reasoning.
While genetics may account for potentialities and limits, Wilson argues that the actual evolution of a species can be understood only in relation to the changing conditions of its environment. Rejecting the idea of a human evolutionary leap as contradicting Darwin’s theory, Wilson shows how the continuity of the genus Homo within the order Primates is to be found in generalization. Man was and is a promising primate, of endless potential coupled with a vulnerable need to exchange promises. From these emerge kinship systems, society, and culture.
This incisive and gracefully written book offers both a new synthesis and a fresh starting point for evolutionists in several disciplines. Its central argument and special insights―into fatherhood, the incest taboo, marriage, and the relation of food to thought―challenge current emphasis on biogenetic determinism and provide a new approach to anthropological theorizing.

Man, The Promising Primate: The Conditions of Human Evolution, Second edition

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

In spite of recent advances in the study of evolution, scholars have shied away from the most intriguing problem of allhow and why animal nature became human nature.  In confronting this problem, Peter Wilson leads his readers on a fascinating exploration.  What made it possible, he asks, for one genus of the order Primates, living in Africa in the Plio-Pleistocene era, to become human and to develop culture?  Continuing the tradition of bold speculation fathered by the philosophical anthropology of Hobbes and Rousseau, Wilson seeks to unravel the evidence for such basic human adaptations as self-conscious thought, symbolic kinship, ritual behavior, and objective reasoning. While genetics may account for potentialities and limits, Wilson argues that the actual evolution of a species can be understood only in relation to the changing conditions of its environment.  Rejecting the idea of a human evolutionary leap as contradicting Darwin’s theory, Wilson shows how the continuity of the genus Homo within the order Primates is to be found in generalization.  Man was and is a promising primate, of endless potential coupled with a vulnerable need to exchange promises.  From these emerge kinship systems, society, and culture. This incisive and gracefully written book offers both a new synthesis and a fresh starting point for evolutionists in several disciplines.  Its central argument and special insightsinto fatherhood, the incest taboo, marriage, and the relation of food to thoughtchallenge current emphasis on biogenetic determinism and provide a new approach to anthropological theorizing. 

Anthropology

Examines the impact of permanent settlements on human social interaction, and looks at the role of the senses in human culture

The Domestication of the Human Species

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Yale Univ Pr

In the exciting book Peter J. Wilson takes domestication as the starting point for his continued inquiry into human evolution. Wilson argues that settling down into a built environment was the most radical and far-reaching innovation in human development and that it had a crucial effect on human psychology and social relations. The insights of this book point the way toward amendments to social theories that will challenge the professional reader and at the same time offer to the general reader an enriched understanding of human behavior and human history. “This book is a rare occurrence: a total rethinking of a set of closely related fundamental problems in the understanding of human evolution….[An] immensely ambitious undertaking.”―Paul Wheatley, Contemporary Sociology “This approach merges societies in surprising ways….It certainly leads to some provocative and stimulating generalizations.”―John Bodley, American journal of Physical Anthropology “Perhaps this book is revolutionary…asking us to rethink human nature, its causes, its cures…It holds out the real possibilities of redoing the human condition by reconceptualizing the power of our environs….[Wilson] has given is a book that is hard to put down once begun, and one whose ideas are even harder to dismiss.”―Harvey B. Sarles, Contemporary Psychology “This is definitely a book on which to sharpen one’s wits….The author invites the reader to think with him about matters not only past but also present which have much relevance for our future. This book makes lively and mind-stretching reading.”―Ashley Montagu

The Risk of Taking Liberties: The Anthropological Trail to the Modern Condition

This is a highly readable and insightful study of the relationship between the individual and society. The society is that of the island of Providencia, and the individual is Oscar Bryan. Oscar is an extraordinary person, and his life is not to be taken as typical of lives lived in the Caribbean. Yet it is, to paraphrase Oscar himself, only through the study of the extraordinary that we come to some sort of understanding of the ordinary. Through Oscar's life we see magnified some of the basic problems of the relationship between the individual and his society as they are manifested in the Caribbean: the continuing conflict between practical and ideal moralities as revealed in the struggle between "reputation" and "respectability"; the manipulation of language and speech to confuse, deceive and inform; the paradox that requires people to seek privacy from each other if they wish to remain together. Wilson has contrived not only a fascinating portrait of a unique personality, but he also offers valuable speculations on the meaning of madness and the nature of the hidden and elusive bonds that unite, or divide, an individual and his society.

Oscar: an inquiry into the nature of sanity

Random House]

This is a highly readable and insightful study of the relationship between the individual and society. The society is that of the island of Providencia, and the individual is Oscar Bryan. Oscar is an extraordinary person, and his life is not to be taken as typical of lives lived in the Caribbean. Yet it is, to paraphrase Oscar himself, only through the study of the extraordinary that we come to some sort of understanding of the ordinary. Through Oscar's life we see magnified some of the basic problems of the relationship between the individual and his society as they are manifested in the Caribbean: the continuing conflict between practical and ideal moralities as revealed in the struggle between "reputation" and "respectability"; the manipulation of language and speech to confuse, deceive and inform; the paradox that requires people to seek privacy from each other if they wish to remain together. Wilson has contrived not only a fascinating portrait of a unique personality, but he also offers valuable speculations on the meaning of madness and the nature of the hidden and elusive bonds that unite, or divide, an individual and his society.

Vintage Books

Malay Village and Malaysia: Social Values and Rural Development

Human Relations Area Files

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wilson, Peter J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wilson, Peter J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wilson, Peter J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Crab antics;: The social anthropology of English-speaking Negro societies of the Caribbean (Caribbean series)

Man, the promising primate: The conditions of human evolution

Man, The Promising Primate: The Conditions of Human Evolution, Second edition

Man, the promising primate: The conditions of human evolution

The Domestication of the Human Species

The Domestication of the Human Species

The Risk of Taking Liberties: The Anthropological Trail to the Modern Condition

Oscar: an inquiry into the nature of sanity

Oscar: an inquiry into the nature of sanity

Malay Village and Malaysia: Social Values and Rural Development