| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Introduction -- Modern political philosophy and prehistoric anthropology: some preliminary issues -- The Hobbesian hypothesis: how a colonial prejudice became an essential premise in the most popular justification of government -- John Locke and the Hobbesian hypothesis: how a similar colonial prejudice became an essential premise in the most popular justification of private property rights -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in eighteenth-century political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in nineteenth-century political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in contemporary political theory -- The Hobbesian hypothesis in anthropology -- Nasty and brutish? An empirical assessment of the violence hypothesis -- Are you better off now than you were 12,000 years ago? An empirical assessment of the Hobbesian hypothesis -- Implications. |
| Summary |
This book looks at how modern philosophers pass on myths about prehistory. Why do political philosophers talk so much about the Stone Age? The state of nature, the origin of property, the origin of government, and the primordial nature of inequality and war are popular topics in political philosophy, but are they being used as more than just illustrative examples? Does the best available evidence from archaeology and anthropology support or conflict with the stories being passed on by political philosophers? This book presents a philosophical look at the origin of civilization, examining political theories to show how claims about prehistory are used and presents evidence that much of what we think we know about human origins comes not from scientific investigation but from the imagination of philosophers. |
| Subject |
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural.
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Political science -- Philosophy.
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History, Ancient -- Philosophy.
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History -- Errors, inventions, etc.
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History, Ancient -- Philosophy.
(OCoLC)fst00958358
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History -- Errors, inventions, etc.
(OCoLC)fst00958250
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Political science -- Philosophy.
(OCoLC)fst01069819
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| Added Author |
McCall, Grant S., author.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: 9780748678662 0748678662 (OCoLC)869792925 |
| ISBN |
9780748678679 (electronic bk.) |
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0748678670 (electronic bk.) |
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9780748678662 |
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0748678662 |
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