The Social Origins of Thought - (Methodology & History in Anthropology) by Johannes F M Schick & Mario Schmidt & Martin Zillinger (Paperback)

About the Book

The Social Origins of Thought explores the Durkheim School's ambitious critique of philosophical interpretations of the genesis and constitution of the categories of thought. With contributions from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, media studies, and sinology, this volume illustrates the interdisciplinarity and intellectual rigor of the "category project".

Book Synopsis

By studying how different societies understand categories such as time and causality, the Durkheimians decentered Western epistemology. With contributions from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, media studies, and sinology, this volume illustrates the interdisciplinarity and intellectual rigor of the "category project" which did not only stir controversies among contemporary scholars but paved the way for other theories exploring how the thoughts of individuals are prefigured by society and vice versa.

Review Quotes

'By highlighting lesser-known influences on Durkheim and Mauss, [this book] enriches our understanding of the category project and its relevance to the evolution of social thought. For those willing to engage deeply with its content, this work provides many valuable insights." - Anthropos

"It makes a clear contribution to its field by a group of scholars with a coherent nucleus in Germany, many of whom have been researching this topic for years, if not decades ... it represents the culmination, at least for the time being, of work on these issues (the Durkheimians and the categories)." - Robert Parkin, University of Oxford

"This is a collective book from international scholars assessing the legacy of the Durkheim school of sociology through the epistemological question of the origins of categories of thought ... This is a significant contribution to the historical epistemology in France." - Frédéric Keck, Director of Research at the Laboratory of Social Anthropology (CNRS-Collège de France-EHESS).

About the Author

Johannes F.M. Schick is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities (University of Cologne). He was the head of the DFG-research Project "Action, Operation, Gesture: Technology as Interdisciplinary Anthropology".