Learning outcomes

Knowledge and capacity to understand
At the end of the course, the student should:
- have a basic knowledge of the main stages of socio-cultural anthropological thought since 1850;
- have a basic knowledge of the main themes and methods developed in anthropology over the same period;
- have a basic knowledge of the main influences exerted by ethnographic reports on Amerindian populations on the development of modern philosophical thought.
Knowledge and capacity to apply understanding
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
- place anthropological texts and reflections within the history of anthropology;
- identify anthropological-cultural materials and reflections in a philosophical text.
Independent judgement
At the end of the course, the students will have acquired:
- the capacity to critically analyze an anthropological text;
- the capacity to critically interpret a philosophical text that uses anthropological-cultural themes.
Communication skills
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
• consciously use specific terms relating to anthropological-cultural themes;
• precisely explain the differences and similarities between the various anthropological theories;
• speak precisely about the theme of cultural alterity.
Capacity to learn
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
- identify and analyze the way in which the theme of cultural diversity is dealt with in the principal modern philosophical theories;
- find the necessary sources to develop an interdisciplinary cultural anthropology and philosophy analysis modality.

Program

MOMENTS OF HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY

1. History of contemporary anthropology:
- The history of contemporary anthropology as a moment in the history of alterity;
- Progress and degeneration in nineteenth-century pre-evolutionary anthropology;
- Evolutionary anthropology;
- Diffusionism;
- French ethno-sociology;
- American cultural anthropology;
- Malinowski and the ethnographic method;
- Structural-functionalism;
- Structuralism;
- Interpretive and dialogical anthropology.

2. The influence of the first ethnographic studies among American populations (Las Casas, Acosta, Lafiteau) on modern philosophy (Pufendorf, Hobbes, Grozio, Hume, Leibniz, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Vico, Voltaire):
- The big contrast between barbarism and civilization;
- The debate on society and state;
- The question of religion.

Requirements
- basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history;
- basic knowledge of the history of western philosophical thought.

Teaching methods
Lectures with inter-active exchanges with the students.

Examination Methods

Learning levels will be assessed by an oral test. Students must be able to demonstrate:
- to have understood the relevant elements on which the main anthropological theories are based;
- to be able to express their own reasoning in a precise manner, identifying and selecting the essential elements;
- to be able to critically analyze modern European philosophical theories in their interpretation of ethnographical data on native Americans.
A maximum score of up 17/30 will be awarded for assessment at point 1; a maximum of 13/30 will be awarded for assessment at point 2.
Examination methods will be the same for both attending and non-attending students.