Anthropology of the Self: The Individual in Cultural Perspective

by Brian Morris

This book looks at the 'self' in Western, Asian and African societies passing though Greek philosophy, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confuscism, Tao and African philosophy and ending with contemporary feminism. Scholarly and written in a lucid style, free of jargon, this work is written from an anthropological perspective with an interdisciplinary approach. Morris emphasises the varying conceptions of the self found cross-culturally and contrasts these with the conceptions found in the Western intellectual traditions.

Genres: Anthropology

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Brian Morris (born 1936) is emeritus professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London. He is a specialist on folk taxonomy, ethnobotany and ethnozoology, and on religion and symbolism.

He has carried out fieldwork among South Asian hunter-gatherers and in Malawi. Groups that he has studied include the Ojibwa.

Leaving school at the age of fifteen, Brian Morris had a varied career: foundry worker, seaman, and tea-planter in Malawi, before becoming a university teacher. Now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, he is the author of numerous articles and books on ethnobotany, religion and symbolism, hunter-gatherer societies and concepts of the individual.

His books include Richard Jefferies and the Ecological Vision (2006), Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction(2006), Insects and Human Life (2004) and Kropotkin: The Politics of Community (2004). Black Rose Books is also the publisher of hisBakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom (1993) and the forthcoming Anarchist Miscellany.

Reviews

[Isaac]

“In the history of human thought Buddhism stands unique in denying the existence of a soul, self or atman. But Buddha not only denied the reality of atman or soul as a religious concept, he also considered the notion of a personal self to be an imaginary and false belief. He did not deny the reality of the self in the ordinary sense of the term – for it has a practical usage – nor did he deny the reality of the material world. But the essence of existence was for Buddha its impermanent and processual nature.”

[Neil Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A summary and critique of various studies.

I found it interesting but, again, just on the limit of my understanding