{"id":179039,"date":"2018-02-20T23:50:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T23:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writemyessayfree.com\/anthropology-11"},"modified":"2018-10-24T09:24:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:24:44","slug":"anthropology-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/anthropology-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prologue, Chapters 1 and 2, and Epilogue<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myths and storytelling are an integral part of the human experience.  Remember that anthropologists use the term \u201cmyth\u201d in a way that is different from common usage.  When an anthropologist refers to a specific story as a \u201cmyth,\u201d s\/he does not<\/em><\/strong> mean that it is false.  Anthropologists define myths as stories that have significant social meanings and often prescribe codes of correct, ethical behavior and\/or prohibit incorrect, unethical acts.  In other words, myths may or may not be \u201cfactual,\u201d but they are always \u201ctrue.\u201d  Truth and fact are two different concepts.  The sentence \u201cthou shalt not steal\u201d is a truth because it prescribes a specific rule to live by, but it is not a \u201cfact\u201d because some people do<\/em> steal.   The sentence \u201ctheft and property crime declined by 7.2% over the past 30 years\u201d is a \u201cfact,\u201d but not a \u201ctruth,\u201d because it describes the way things are, but doesn\u2019t offer any advice concerning what we should do about it.<\/p>\n

Science is often considered to be an \u201cobjective\u201d exercise, and to a large extent this is correct.  However, the information discovered by scientists can have \u201cmythical\u201d implications, just as much as any other information.  Jared Diamond discusses many facts in The Third Chimpanzee, but he does not stop with simple description.  Instead, he uses these facts to try to arrive at a number of ethical truths concerning how we should<\/em> act.<\/p>\n

For your paper, read Diamond\u2019s Prologue<\/em>, Part One (Chapters 1 and 2), and Epilogue <\/em>(Nothing Learned,  and Everything Forgotten?<\/em>) and look for the following themes:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1) Taxonomy<\/strong>: Classification is never \u201cvalue free.\u201d  The way we organize our experiences into conceptual categories is influenced by the way we think the world should<\/em> be.  In turn, our classification systems influence the way we think things \u201creally are.\u201d   What is Diamond\u2019s opinion of the way humans, common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes<\/em>), and bonobos (\u201cpygmy chimps,\u201d Pan paniscus<\/em>) are classified?  How should<\/em> they be classified, according to Diamond?  Is Diamond\u2019s argument convincing?  Why or why not?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2) Ethics<\/strong>:  The way we treat others is, in part, influenced by how well we know them (or how well we think<\/em> we know them).  If chimpanzees were re-classified as members of our genus, would we treat them the same way as we do now (e.g. putting them in zoos, performing medical experiments on them, and destroying their habitat by deforestation)?  If not, why not?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) Speculation<\/strong>: A few million years ago, there were several species of large-brained, human-like creatures on earth, and  as recently as 29,000 years ago, there were two (humans and neandertals).  Today, there is only a single species of large-brained, bipedal hominid left on the planet.  In your opinion, and based on your readings in Diamond and Kottak, and on lectures, what might modern life be like if there were two species of intelligent, culture-using hominids alive today?  Would we get along, or would we fight?  Would we cooperate or compete?  Would we welcome them into our society, or would we shun them?  Why do you think this would be the case, and do you feel that this should<\/em> be the case, or would you oppose the general trends?  Why or why not?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(These three topics can be the basis for three \u201cbody paragraphs\u201d in a five paragraph essay.)<\/p>\n

Your writing must meet college-level standards, and your paper should be a minimum of 5 to 7 pages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prologue, Chapters 1 and 2, and Epilogue   Myths and storytelling are an integral part of the human experience.  Remember that anthropologists use the term \u201cmyth\u201d in a way that is different from common usage.  When an anthropologist refers to Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}