Geertz, perhaps the most influential of the anthropologists, contends that symbolism and meaning are central to religion: “The view of man as a symbolizing, conceptualizing, meaning-seeking animal, which has become increasingly popular both in the social sciences and in philosophy over the past several years, opens up a whole new approach not o…[Read more]

Summary of the book “Science Still Born” (2001), presented at the XXIst International Congress of History of Science, Mexico City, Mexico, July 8-14, 2001. // Resumen del libro “Amistad y Progreso” (2001), presentado en el XXI Congreso Internacional de la Historia de la Ciencia, Ciudad de Mexico, 8-14 de julio del 2001.

Part of a special issue “Making Animal Materials in Time” (HSNS 53, no. 3)

While the colonial and modern history of epidemics in South Asia is well researched, the earlier developments of this subject area have hardly been studied. The project Epidemics and Crisis Management in Pre-modern South Asia aims to fill part of this gap by exploring the intellectual history of epidemics and similar disasters in South Asia and…[Read more]

Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714–1774), a Bolognese wax sculptor, overcame humble origins to become one of the most important anatomical artists of the eighteenth century. Working with her husband Giovanni Manzolini (c. 1700–1755), and continuing alone after his death, Morandi created remarkably lifelike and anatomically accurate wax models of the sen…[Read more]

1. Gergen argues that situations which human beings didn’t understand or deal with appropriately would inflict painful lessons – providing a conditioning or predisposition for learning. “In the Darwinian sense, the ability to conceptualize has survival value. To be more specific, concepts are valuable tools in problem solving.” (p.23) “In ess…[Read more]

There is no doubt whatsoever that emotions are very important and highly significant in the processing of data and information, as well as in the day-to day functioning of the human being. Eric Klinger, whose expertise is in personality psychology and motivation theory, focuses on the influences of motivation and emotion on cognition. Klinger…[Read more]

In this paper, I argue that Hygieia has to be viewed as a full goddess in Greek religion and medicine, with a special focus on her position within the Asklepios cult. I will examine her identity, to which scholars attribute several labels like goddess, abstraction and personification. I further argue that Hygieia’s role in performing incubation r…[Read more]

The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an inter-disciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on thetransition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contributionof anthropology…[Read more]

इस आलेख में मैंने देखने की कोशिश कि कोविड की रोकथाम के लिए उठाए गए अतिरेकपूर्ण कदमों के कारण दुनिया में क्या स्थितियाँ उत्पन्न होने वाली हैं। विशेष तौर पर सामाजिक वंचना झेल रहे मानव-समुदायों पर इसका क्या प्रभाव पड़ने वाला है। आलेख में भारत के उन शोषित समुदायों को केंद्र में रखा गया है, जो भारतीय आबादी का बहुसंख्यक हिस्सा हैं। इस बहुसंख्या में…[Read more]

How do we know if animals can think? In extension of the previous debate on human-animal relations, this book analyzes the conditions and contexts of the scientific acquisition of our knowledge of animals. The current discussions within animal philosophy revolve around the three central questions of whether we can attribute a mind to animals, what…[Read more]

In current debates about the relationships between humans and nonhuman animals, knowledge about animals is often adopted from the sciences. However, this largely ignores the fact that relationships of this kind also exist in empirical animal research and that these constellations between researchers and the researched have both ethical and…[Read more]

Animal welfare and animal rights issues have reached the curricula, agendas and priorities of a wide range of educational institutions and initiatives. Their actors are faced with the challenge of not only explaining the relevance of animal ethics and animal rights, but also conceptualising how to teach them: How can animal protection and animal…[Read more]