Primitive Culture: Researches Into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and CustomEdward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) was an English anthropologist who is widely considered the founder of anthropology as a scientific discipline. He was the first Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1896 to 1909, and developed a broad definition of culture which is still used by scholars. First published in 1871, this classic work explains Tylor's idea of cultural evolution in relation to anthropology, a social theory which states that human cultures invariably change over time to become more complex. Unlike his contemporaries, Tylor did not link biological evolution to cultural evolution, asserting that all human minds are the same irrespective of a society's state of evolution. His book was extremely influential in popularising the study of anthropology and establishing cultural evolution as the main theoretical framework followed by anthropologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Volume 1 focuses on social evolution, language and myth. |
Contents
THE SCIENCE OF CULTURE | 1 |
CHAPTER II | 23 |
Survival and SuperstitionChildrens gamesGames of chanceTradi | 63 |
CHAPTER IV | 101 |
CHAPTER V | 145 |
CHAPTER VI | 181 |
THE AET OF COUNTING | 218 |
CHAPTER VIII | 247 |
CHAPTER IX | 285 |
MYTHOLOGY continued | 332 |
ANIMISM | 377 |
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Common terms and phrases
actual Africa ages America ancient animals appears bear become belief belong body called carried cause century civilization comes common condition counting course culture custom dead death described doctrine early earth English especially European evidence examples existence express fact fancy father fingers funeral give hand head higher hold human idea imitative Indian instance interjectional kind known language laws legend less living look lower man's mankind meaning mind Moon mother myth native nature night notion numerals objects once opinion origin passed philosophy practice present processes races reason relation religion remarkable savage seems seen sense shape similar soul sound spirit stages stand stone story taken tells theory things thought tion traced tradition tribes turned various whole